In 1179 it was changed, as the nuns apparently transferred to the Abbey of Our Lady in Randers, and was moved the next year to the east of the drumlin of Holmen[3] in Essenbæk Parish,[4] from which it took its name.

[12] Much wealth and property was donated to the monastery, particularly by the Hvide clan,[13] so that in time it owned all the lands in Essenbæk Parish, almost all those in Virring Parish,[14] and additional estates in the parishes of Albæk, Bregnet, Dalbyover, Egens, Egå, Fausing, Fløjstrup, Gimming, Gjesing, Glesborg, Harridslev, Homå, Hornslet, Hørning, Kastbjerg, Lime, Mariager, Mejlby, Mørke, Rimsø, Skødstrup, Tøstrup, Udbyneder, Voldby, Ødum, and Årslev, as well as in the hundreds of Hjelmslev, Houlbjerg, and Middelsom.

[19] Despite the abbey's wealth the king declared on 5 September 1529[20] that the courtier Hans Emmiksen [sv] was elected by the monks[5] as its custodian until his death, rather than the infirm abbot, since “the monastery’s estate is daily won from it, and the brothers for a long time have not gotten their necessities according to their rule’s exercise”.

[25] Hans Stygge [sv], who was a vassal there, had the bodies of Stig Tokesen Hvide[26] and his wife Margrethe[2] moved to Dronningborg Castle,[26] and Bjørn Andersen, who owned Stenalt [sv], had the bodies of Stig Andersen Hvide[27] and his wife Tove Andersdatter moved to Ørsted Church.

[2] In 1558 Chancellery Secretary Jakob Reventlow [sv] registered nearly 100 letters from Essenbæk Abbey in Silkeborg's archive.

[34] The teacher Karl Hansen wrote in 1832[35] that there were no remains of the monastery,[36] but in 1894 a piece of solid wall was found on the west of the mound known as Kirkegaarden (the Churchyard) on Holmen, which was then being surveyed for the National Museum of Denmark.

[48] The foundation was of the north-eastern corner of a building, which ended flat to the east,[7] and inside extended 30 feet (9.1 meters) in either direction.

[51] On a patch of heavy boulders to the north stood a watermill,[38] and curved round the east of the monastery was a water-filled ditch.

[53] Through the meadow the road was paved with smaller cobblestones and large rim stones, but from there wound as a sunken lane up through the heather hills at Assentoft.

[38] Two granite columns three and a half meters high[55][56] from the park at Stenalt[55] were taken in 1804 across the frozen Randers Fjord[57] to Dronningborg.

[56] The coat of arms belonged to the family of lady (fruen) Anna Krabbe,[57][58] and the date probably refers to the year they were erected at Stenalt, which she then owned.