Château du duc d’Epernon
THE ABANDONED CASTLE IN FRANCE
The ‘Château du duc d’Epernon’ is an abandoned castle. It was built on the site of a long gone medieval castle. The castle is located in Fontenay-Trésigny alongside the Bréon stream, in the heart of a once walled old town.
The history of the town closely intertwines with that of the château. During the Old Regime, the Castellans held lordship over Fontenay-en-Brie. The architecture of the château reflects the various periods when it was reconstructed after falling into partial ruin. In 1389, Jean Le Mercier rebuilt the medieval castle, enclosing it with walls and a moat. The castle was situated around a courtyard with two drawbridges and was positioned along a pilgrimage road from Paris to Rome.
The lord of the castle collected a fee from travelers passing through his domain. The current building has retained the rectangular plan, flanked by round towers. Guillaume Prudhomme rebuild the castle after 1538.
Pleasure palace
The present château dates from the first half of the 17th century. It was built by Jean de Nogaret de La Valette, and was planned as a pleasure palace. The rooms were made comfortable and decorated with tapestries and paintings. The ground floor and the guard room floor were covered with large glazed tiles. The château did not undergo major changes until the beginning of the 19th century. The Marquis de Gontaut-Biron, the owner in 1837, restored the main house, the side wing and the two other wings. To open up the courtyard he pulled down the entrance wing with its turrets, the drawbridge, and two of the corner towers that housed the gothic chapel and a prison. The gardens and the old farm were landscaped into a leisure park.
The château has been classified as a Monument since 1963 and its park land is included in the List of Remarkable Gardens of France. In the 1940s, the château of Fontenay was occupied by youth camps.
In 1976, fire destroyed the paneled living room on the ground floor, which had previously served as an apple sales outlet. The problems with the castle truly began after converting the complex into an agricultural site, resulting in the gradual abandonment of the castle. In 1986, shoring was placed to ensure the conservation of the castle. Over the years, the damage has increased.
Future plans
In 2006, Mr. Samuel Tasse sold the château to a property developer specializing in historic buildings, which came forward with plans for dividing it into twelve apartments and creating another forty-eight in the various outbuildings. However, this was not brought to completion, due to the developer going into liquidation in 2014. The castle suffered a partial fire and was taken over by squatters in 2014.
The château continued to decay for another 10 years until it underwent sale to a new owner. The restoration of the building will use traditional materials such as sandstone, lime coatings, and slates, resulting in an aesthetic consistent with its 16th-century architecture and offering the prospect of lasting conservation.
I took these photos of ‘Château du duc d’Epernon’ in 2015.
