Elze Manor

The manor house was built in 1570 on the walls of an old moated castle by Chancellor Caspar von Klammer. He received the saddle farm in 1564 as a fief from the Duke of Braunschweig/Lüneburg in Celle. His son Otto von Klammer sold the estate in 1591 to Henning von Mandelsloh, who, however, was only granted it as a fief for five years. In 1615, the Grand Bailiff Rudolf Von Bünau was the owner of the estate. After his death in 1616, his widow managed the property until 1620. The estate included numerous fiefdoms in Elze, but also distant "scattered fiefs".

In 1678, Maria Cappellini, known as Stecchinelli (pronounced /Stekkinelli/), bought the estate. He was brought back from a trip to Italy by Duke Georg Wilhelm in 1656. A presumably ducal legend states that Stecchinelli warned the Duke of a planned robbery and thus protected him. Out of gratitude, the Duke then took him to Celle.

From 1684 to 1694, he was the district bailiff in Bissendorf. Stecchinelli traveled as a political agent to Vienna, as a courier to Rome or other European courts. He was also a wholesale merchant in textiles and wine. As a rather wealthy man, he rose to General Postmaster of the Principality of Lüneburg/Celle in 1678. In 1682, he sold the General Postmaster's office with "solemn profit" to Mr. von Platen in Celle.

Stecchinelli himself never lived here on the estate. The estate was already leased to Henning Mente when he took it over in 1678. His family, however, owned the estate until the division of common land in 1840.

It is reported that already in Stecchinelli's time and also later, the well-known Hanoverian "Broyhanbier" was also brewed here on the manor. From the years 1836/37, beer orders for the Bissendorf "Schibenbeier" still exist. During this time, Carl Schriever was the estate manager.

In 1874, Baron Burghard von Cramm bought the farm and sold it to the city of Hanover in 1906. In 1962, the regional church became the owner. In 1985, the farm buildings were demolished and the main house was restored. Since then, it has served as the rectory and office of the Elze church community.