Arbottna Herrgärd

There are remains dating back to the Bronze Age on the lands of Arbottna.

From the Iron Ages, a Viking settlement from 850 to around 1050 can be traced.
A large part of the current farmland was then underwater in shallow waters. The land uplift is about half a meter per century in our region, i.e., about five meters since the Viking Age.

A medieval owner was King Magnus 1 (Ladulås), who in 1278 donated a large part of Muskö to the bishopric of Strängnäs, which owned the island until the mid-1520s when Gustav Vasa confiscated churches and monasteries.

Arbottna’s new owner then became the crown, i.e., the royal family, who owned the estate until 1638.

The new owner was Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm. He received the estate as a fief. He was the son of Charles IX and half-brother of Gustav II Adolf. He was appointed as the Chief Admiral in 1619, after twelve years of captivity in Poland. He built a manor house on the estate.

Three kilometers east of the estate lies the river port, a natural harbor used by the Swedish navy while waiting for the right wind. The naval harbor was Sweden’s maritime center for almost 200 years. Its medieval name was Alaesnap and later Elvsnaben.

Some historical dates related to the river port:
1442 Erik of Pomerania attacked Swedish ships anchored there.
1518 The Danish navy was stationed here. Christian II was king from 1520-1521.
1522 10 borrowed ships from Lübeck were here to be converted into
warships. Gustav Vasa was regent from 1521-1522.
1628 The warship Wasa sank on its way to Älvsnabben.
1630 About thirty ships sailed with sixteen squadrons of cavalry
and ninety-two companies of soldiers (15,000 men) to
participate in the Thirty Years’ War. Gustav II Adolf was king from 1611-1632.
1680 The harbor lost much of its
significance when Karlskrona was founded,
establishing Sweden’s new naval harbor there.

Chief Admiral C.C. Gyllenhielm could coordinate and supervise the transfer of troops and supplies needed for wars in Europe from Arbottna Manor. After his death, the estate passed to his widow C. Ribbing and nephew S. Bååt. The new owner after 1669 was Count O. Törnflyckt.

In 1699, during King Charles XI’s reduction policy, the estate was annexed to the crown. The estate was mostly leased between 1700-1736, primarily to Törnflyckt.

In July 1709, almost all buildings on Muskö were burned down by Russian soldiers.

The owner after 1736 became Baron Hummerhjelm and from 1750, Secretary of State Segerlund, who was murdered on the estate. His daughter sold the estate to mirror manufacturer Hansson-Westerberg, who held Arbottna for ten years until 1769. The buyer was furniture dealer Adolf Ludvig Levin, who became the owner of large parts of Muskö.

A.L. Levin divided the properties into the then Arbottna and the newly formed manor Ludvigsberg in 1776. He created two entails with two of his younger sons as beneficiaries.

The manor house at Arbottna was built in the 1770s. The wing building was completed in 1802.

Adolf Ludvig Levin died in 1807 and was succeeded by his youngest son Fredrik Vilhelm. He inherited the entail with subsidiary farms: Gullboda, Mälby södergård, Älvsnabben, and Mickrum.

During his time, several farm buildings were constructed, including the smithy. He died at the age of 37. The estate was inherited by his son, Adolf Vilhelm, who died in 1896 at the age of ninety. During his tenure, a brickyard was established at Lövhagen, operational until the 1880s. It is now called Bruket. His son Johan Malcolm leased the estate for several years and was the trustee for twelve years until his death in 1908.

He renovated the manor house to its current appearance in the 1880s. He planted three rows of alder trees in the park.
He also set up a Catholic chapel for his wife Clementine, who hailed from Ecuador.

Johan Levin was wealthy, partly due to his marriage and reportedly due to winning a large casino jackpot on the Riviera. Arbottna saw unprecedented luxury during summer.

Many prominent guests visited the estate. Ministers…Ambassadors…Landowners…Officers…Businessmen were invited to extravagant parties.
The guests arrived by steamboat from Stockholm and were met at the pier with one or more of the estate’s carriages.
Well-groomed horses, harnesses with silver fittings, and black-lacquered carriages were often seen on the roads.

Johan Levin usually spent winters in Paris, where he passed away in 1908.

The last trustee of Arbottna was his son Georges, who was declared incompetent.

The estate was sold to Clas Malmborg in 1915 and inherited by his son Sixten in 1930, who sold it to the military in 1951.

A defense facility (Musköbasen) was built on the land, along with some facilities at Bjurshagen-Älvsnabben and the beginning of a road tunnel. The agriculture was leased out for about fifty years until Drömgården AB bought Arbottna in 2011.