A winding village layout and a former shipping point mark two different sides of Stavreby. The village tells the story of an older settlement pattern; Stavreby Strand adds the history of coastal use. Those looking for a holiday rental in Stavreby can tailor their stay to their interests in local history, the coast, or both.

The Older Village Layout

Stavreby is mentioned in King Valdemar's Land Register from around 1250. Before the land consolidation, it was an irregularly laid-out roadside village with a winding street pattern. A large village pond lay in the centre and divided Stavreby into an eastern and a western part. This means the earlier settlement pattern can be understood at two scales: the streets describe the course of the village, while the pond marked its division.

The original layout is still recognisable. Three farms and individual houses still stand in their original locations. The farms and houses preserve specific points in the earlier layout, while the winding street pattern defines the form of the village as a whole.

Stavreby Strand: Construction and Shipping

Development at Stavreby Strand began only after 1836. Around 1880, Hans Jensen, a fisherman from Copenhagen, settled there and built a house at Stavreby Strandvej 7. The two dates provide a timeline for coastal development: construction began first, followed later by the fisherman's arrival. The house adds a person and a specific address to the dates.

The Stavreby Magasin, a grain store, was built in 1863 east of Stavreby Strand beside the main road. A plaque bearing the inscription “C.J. From” is located on the gable end. As a building, the store adds grain storage to the local history. It therefore represents a different part of the economic history from the settlement of the fisherman Hans Jensen.

On the 1887 map, Stavreby Strand is marked as an “Udskibningssted” (shipping point), with a shipping pier. South of the old shipping point, after the sugar factory was built in Nykøbing, the “Gedsergård-broen” was constructed as a new shipping point for sugar beets. The two points mark a distinction in both time and function: the older one appears on the map, while the later one served to ship sugar beets. This shows a change in coastal use: first a general shipping point, and later one with an explicitly stated purpose of transporting agricultural produce.

Views Across the Sound and Fishing Today

From Stavreby, you can look across the sound to the opposite shore of Lolland; on the horizon, you can see Nykøbing Falster, the largest town on Falster. The shore and the town provide two distinct points of reference for the coastal view.

Commercial fishing no longer takes place from Stavreby Strand; instead, many recreational anglers use it. If you would like to fish yourself, check the current conditions locally. Historical shipping and recreational fishing today thus represent different uses of the same coastal area.

Discover more destinations: Gedesby, Horbelev, Vaeggerloese, Nykøbing Falster, Gedser, Stubbekøbing, Listrup, Elkenøre

For the main travel overview: Guldborgsund Municipality.