Lehtse

Lehtse ( German Lehtis or Lecht ) is a village ( alevik ) in the rural community Tapa in Estonian Lääne -Viru. By 2005 Lehtse was its own country town in the district Järva; then formed from the merger with the city of tapas and the rural community Saksi the rural community of Tapa. The village Lehtse has 585 inhabitants ( as of 2000).

Lehtse has a train station, opened in 1896 at the railway Tallinn - Tapa. The village itself was only after the completion of the railway Tallinn - Saint Petersburg in 1870.

Lehtse is the birthplace of Estonian politician Artur Sirk ( 1900-1937 ).

Manor Lehtse

It is known especially the historic farm house of Lehtse (Estonian Lehtse mõis ). It is located about 3 km from the present-day village core. In 1467, the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order over appropriated the goods to the Baltic German nobility Hans von Lechtese. After the Great Northern War the manor belonged to the family of Derfelden, then the family of roses. 1780 Glass Factory was founded on the estate. From 1868 to 1919 there was owned by Baron Friedrich Alexander Georg von Hoyningen -Huene, a well-known ornithologist and butterfly collector.

This single storey manor house of the estate was built in the early 19th century and rebuilt in the late 19th century in neo-Gothic style. 1919, the estate was confiscated and passed into the ownership of the Estonian state. 1933/34, the manor house was largely destroyed. Today the cellar are still preserved. Two kilometers south-west of the manor house located in the upper reaches of the river Soodla the ruins of an old water mill.