Gut Mehlbek

Mehlbek Manor has been an estate in the present-day municipality of Mehlbek since about 1538.

The name “Mehlbek” originated from the Low German term for “Mühlenbach”. It refers to the Mühlenau, which flows into the Bekau River, where the water mill was located, from which the Mehlbek estate developed. This water mill together with the settlement was given by the Danish King Christian III in 1538 to the knight Johann Rantzau, who established the manor and the estate. His son Heinrich Rantzau expanded the estate to include the village of Kaaks as well as parts of the villages of Hohenaspe and Huje. His grandson Erich Rantzau sold the estate to his relative Cai von Ahlefeldt in 1616.

Johann Rantzau built the manor house around 1538. In 1709 the farm buildings burned down. In 1710, the then owner Christian Ernst Freiherr von Reichenbach had the half-timbered barn built, which is still preserved today. The fortified manor house was demolished in 1817. Today the estate is run as an agricultural business with arable farming and pig fattening. A mill wheel and barn were included in Mehlbek’s municipal coat of arms to refer to the roots of the community. The half-timbered barn of the estate is a listed building.