Château-Renaud

English translation

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History

This building was rebuilt around 1683 on the site of a medieval castle, for Bernard Briçonnet d'Oizonville, of a family originally from Touraine, who purchased the lordship in 1689. The construction is often attributed to Joseph Lingré, master mason from Nivernais. The castle occupies the eastern part of a rectangular platform surrounded by moats or walled ditches. The entrance is situated to the west, on a refuge bridge giving access to a gateway whose continuous rustication facing is animated by pilasters and whose pediment bears the arms of the Briçonnet d'Oizonville. At the north-west corner of the courtyard of honour, a round tower with denticulated cornices, covered by a dome, houses the chapel. The south-west corner is occupied by a circular terrace which could be the base of a tower that was never built. The castle presents a main body with façades arranged symmetrically on either side of a slightly projecting avant-corps. This body is flanked, to the south and north, by a wing in return at right angles whose corners are occupied by two round towers. Built to the north, the outbuildings were erected at different periods. In the 19th century, a restoration campaign focused especially on the north wing, largely rebuilt, as well as on the openings, the facing of the external walls and the interior decoration.