Kærstrup is one of the oldest manors on Lolland and was originally located in a village by the same name which disappeared in the beginning of the Middle Ages. The first known owner was Anders Siundesen Mule in 1368. It was later owned by the Gøye family for many generations. The last member of the family to own the estate was Henning Gøye. He had studied eight yeatrs abroad, for instance in Wittenberg. He married Anne Skram, a daughter of Peder Skram, but they had no children. On Gøye's death in 1617, Jærstrup therefore passed to his sister-in-law, Karen Skram, the widow of Laurids Brockenhuus of Bramstrup and Egeskov. The next owners included Palle Rosenkrantz and Christen Skeel. In 1720, Kærstrup was acquired by Frederick IV and included in Lolland Cavalry Fistrict.
Raben family
In 1725, the cavalry district was dissolved and the land divided into estates and sold in public auction. Kærstrup, Aalholm and Bremersvold were acquired by Emerentia Taben, née von Levetzau, the widow of Johan Otto Raben, She immediately ceded Kærstrup and Bremersvold to her son-in-law Niels Rosenkrantz Schack but under the reservation that the estates would revert to the Raben family if his marriage with Sophie Hedewig Raben remained without children. Emerentia von Levetzau bought both estates back in 1732 after Niels Rosenkrantz Schack had passed away without children the previous year. On her death in 1746, Kærstrup and Bremersvold passed to her son, Christian Frederik Raben. He constructed a new main building on the foundations from the Gøye family'es buildings. Sophus Frederik Raben-Levetzau inherited Kærstrup and Bremersvold in 1820 but died just eight years later. His widow, Charlotte Emerentia Rosenkrantz-Huitfeldt, managed the estates after her husband's death with assistance from her nephew, baron Gottlob Rosenkrantz. She wanted to endow the estates to the nephew but this resulted in a legal dispute with the Taben family which had still not been settled at the time of her death in 1843. Two Supreme Court judgements in 1844 and 1850 ended up ceding both estates to the Raben family.
Later history
In 1852, Kærstrup was sold in public auction. The buyer was a consortium who the following year sold it to David Peter Friderichsen after first having sold the copyholds to the copyholders. Friderichsen managed the estate with great skill. His son, Mathias Wilhjelm Friderichsen, in 1851 sold the estate to Lennart Wilhelm Sponneck. In 1972, he sold it to Esper Boel.
Architecture
The rwo-storey main building was built with timber framing in 1765 but clad with brick in 1836. The vaulted cellars date from circa 1540. The centrally located tower on the facade was built in 1868 under supervision of the architect Ove Petersen. The building is surrounded by moats from the first half of the 16th century. The building was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1918. The home farm and the bridge across the eastern moat was built in circa 1910.
Garden
A Baroque-style garden from circa 1765 was recreated in circa 1900.
