Lungholm originates in the older estate Olstrupgaarde which is known from 1434 when it was owned by Henning von Hafn. It is not known whether it was a manor house. In circa 1450, it was owned by the nobleman Erik Pors. Half of the estate was in 1455 ceded to Oluf Gøye while the other half after Erik Pors' death was passed on to his three sons Herman, Niels and Hans Pors. Erik Pors' sons little by little sold their share of Olstrupgaarde to Oluf Gøye's son Eskil. His descendants owned Olstrupgaarde for several generations but it was in the middle of the 16th century transferred to the Brahe family through marriage. Olstrupgaarde had at this point been divided into two farms.
The Rosenkrantz and Reventlow, families
Axel Brahe died without heirs in 1613. His widow, Elisabeth Rosensparre, brought Olstrupgaarde into her second marriage with Palle Rosenkrantz. In 1639 Rosenkrantz merged the two estates and land from the small village of Pugerup into a single manor, naming it Lungholm after his third wife, Lisbeth Lunge. He demolished the two old main buildings and constructed a new one at the same site. Lisbeth Lunge managed the estate on behalf of their sons after Rosenkrantz's death in1642. Lungholm remained in the hands of the family for several generations. Count Christian Ditlev Reventlow, one of the largest landowners in the area, acquired Lungholm in 1823. In 1729, he had accumulated enough land to establish the Countship of Christiansborg.
THe Lehn family
In 1784, Lungholm was sold off to Baron Poul Abraham Lehn. He was already the owner of Højbygård, Berritsgård and Orebygård on Lolland as well as a number of estates on Funen. In 1803, Lehn converted Lungholm and the adjacent Højbygård into a so-called stamhus under the name Sønderkarle for his daughter,Johanne Frederikke Lehn, whose husband was Frederik Wallmoden of Fuglsang Manor. The legal effect of a stamhus was that the estate could neither be sold, mortgaged or divided between heirs. After Johanne Lehn's death in 1805, Sønderkarle was passed to her nephew Poul Godske von Bertouch from Søholt.
In 1819, Poul Godske von Bertouch was created friherre under the name Bertouch-Lehn and Sønderkarle was at the same time converted into a barony. He married Henriette Margrethe Klauer in 1821 and the couple made Lungholm their new home. Poul Godske Bertouch-Lehn died in 1831 and his wife and daughter were killed in an accident five years later. Their son Johan Julian Sophus Ernst Bertouch-Lehn was only two years old when he succeeded his father as Baron ofSønderkarle. He later engaged in several large construction projects on the estate. These included a new main building and he also constructed new dykes and reclaimed new land following the devastating 1872 Baltic Sea flood. The sale of tenant farms had started in circa 1853. The barony struggled economically in the 1870s. Julian Bertouch-Lehn died in 1905 and was succeeded by his son Poul Abraham Bertouch-Lehn. He expanded the main building. The barony was as a result of lensafløsningsloven of 1919 dissolved with effect from 1925. Højbygård and Lungholm are still owned by the Bertouch-Lehn family. They were for a while divided between two brothers but have now once again the same owners.
Architecture
The main building consists of a central, two-storey main wing in brick from 1856 flanked by two one-storey side wings from the 16th or early 17th century. Yje main building was designed by Laurits Albert Winstrup. It was expanded by Henrik Christopher Glahn in 1906.
Today
The current owner of the estate is baron Nicolas de Bertouch-Lehn.
