Behrensen Manor

The manor house appears to have developed from a very old fortified complex - there is hardly any evidence of its architectural history. The southern and eastern enclosing wall is made of heavy natural stones and is interrupted by some narrow, loophole-shaped windows. Part of this ring wall forms the outer side of a barrel-vaulted plinth on which the manor house stood until a few years ago. Today, only a ruin remains. The light construction of the house combined with a heavy roof led to problems decades ago. A few years ago, the demolition of the building was finally unavoidable, as it posed a danger to the neighboring building used as a residence by the Janssen family. This current residence adjoins the remaining walls of the former manor house at a right angle on the eastern side. To the west and north are stable buildings from various centuries.

The first documented mention of the later Behrensen manor can be dated to 1228 with the names Seghebode and Theodoricus de Bernusen. Through inheritance and transfer, the manor passed through several owners, one of whom was the von Halle family, who are still represented today by an epitaph on the former castle wall (see picture above). The connection of the Behrensen manor with the von Strube family for 250 years arose in 1682 through a fiefdom from Heinrich Casimir, Prince of Nassau, Katzenellenbogen, Vianden, Diez and Spiegelberg to Johann David. In 1840, Alexander von Strube managed the estate himself for 40 years as the first educated farmer from his family (they were predominantly civil servants and officers).

In 1932, Gertrud von Strube, as the last heiress of her lineage, sold the estate to the lawyer and pharmaceutical manufacturer Dr. jur. Heinrich Ludwig Karl Janssen, born in Hameln in 1900. One of his life goals was to resettle the family in the countryside - near the Weser - after their migration from the Stedingen area, which he succeeded in doing. In 1947, he married the Hessian Countess Marie Gabriele von Schlitz gen. von Görtz from the castle town of Schlitz. Three children were born from this marriage, of whom the eldest son Bolko Nikolaus Janssen is the current owner of the manor.