Poggenhagen Manor

The former manor estate lies on the edge of Poggenhagen, a district of the town of Neustadt am Rübenberge in the Hanover Region, Lower Saxony. The Leine river meadows begin just behind the estate.

The property dates back to the 14th century, when it was founded by Ludolf Campen. For centuries the ancient noble von Campen family farmed the fief. In the 16th century Duke Eric of Brunswick-Lüneburg, builder of the Neustadt fortress and Landestrost Palace, was associated with the estate.

The estate took its present form between 1712 and 1726 under General Christian Wilhelm von Campen. The complex was laid out symmetrically along an axis that continues northwards as an oak avenue towards Neustadt. Two cavalier houses were built in 1713, followed in 1715 by the two-storey half-timbered manor house with a high vaulted cellar, surrounded by a moat. The upper floor contains a hall in Italian country style with two fireplaces, a stucco ceiling and oil paintings of scenes from classical mythology. The bridge to the farmyard still bears vase pedestals with the arms of the von Campen and von Hammerstein families and the date 1716. The barn and granary followed in 1726.

The male line of the von Campen family died out in 1785. In 1786 the fief passed to the Counts of Schwicheldt, leading to years of legal dispute. In 1851 the estate was converted into freehold property. In 1899 it was bought by Mrs Ulrich, wife of a government official, and the manor house received its neo-Baroque garden façade. Around 1850 the Baroque park had been reshaped as an English landscape park. In 1937 Heinrich Harms acquired the estate after being forced to leave his own farm to make way for the Bergen-Hohne military training area. After 1945 the estate served for a time as a transit camp for young people who had entered the British zone illegally. From 1958 Hans-Heinrich Harms converted the dairy farm into a riding stable.

Today Ralf Harms runs the estate as a farm with a riding stable and rental flats; around 40 people live on the property. The association “KulturGut Poggenhagen”, founded in 2007, organises concerts, art projects and festivals. The estate park, restored since 2004, is open to the public during events.