Bosjökloster (Bosjö Abbey) was originally a nunnery, founded in 1080 by the Benedictine Order. The oldest preserved document that mentions Bosjö Abbey was written by Pope Lucius III in 1181, when he confirmed its privileges. According to local legend, the land was donated by Tord Thott, the first known ancestor of the Scanian noble family Thott. The abbey was transformed into a castle in the 16th century, and only parts of the original building remains.
During the Danish Reformation in the 16th century, the nunnery was closed down and the estate became Danish crown property. It was subsequently donated to the former archbishop of Lund, Torbern Bille, under the condition that he took care of the remaining nuns. In 1560 Frederick II of Denmark gave the estate as a barter to the widowed Scanian noble woman Thale Ulfstand. Her initials and the year 1569 are carved into the large oak doors of the entrance and are still visible.
The castle passed to the Beck family through marriage in 1629, but when Jochum Beck lost the family fortune, it was sold to Corfitz Ulfeldt to repay his debts. Ulfeldt was a Danish aristocrat famous for having switched sides. When he showed up at the peace negotiations at the Treaty of Roskilde proceedings to negotiate on behalf of Sweden, he was convicted of treason by a Danish court. Soon thereafter, he was also convicted of treason by a Swedish court, and was forced into exile. His wife Leonora Christina, daughter of Christian IV, was captured in his place by the Danish authorities and was imprisoned in the Blue Tower in Copenhagen for 22 years.
Bosjökloster Castle was sequestrated by the Swedish state and fell into disrepair. After a lawsuit in 1735, Bosjökloster was returned to the Beck family, who renovated the castle. They sold it in 1908 to Count Philip Bonde, whose family still owns Bosjökloster.
References:La Hougue Bie is a Neolithic ritual site which was in use around 3500 BC. Hougue is a Jèrriais/Norman language word meaning a \'mound\' and comes from the Old Norse word haugr. The site consists of 18.6m long passage chamber covered by a 12.2m high mound. The site was first excavated in 1925 by the Société Jersiaise. Fragments of twenty vase supports were found along with the scattered remains of at least eight individuals. Gravegoods, mostly pottery, were also present. At some time in the past, the site had evidently been entered and ransacked.
In Western Europe, it is one of the largest and best preserved passage graves and the most impressive and best preserved monument of Armorican Passage Grave group. Although they are termed \'passage graves\', they were ceremonial sites, whose function was more similar to churches or cathedrals, where burials were incidental.