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Base Mérimée: Monuments historiques · France

Ruines du château

Ham, Somme, France

The record

Designation
Historic monument, registered (inscrit)
Protection
inscrit MH
Extent of protection
Château (ruines) (cad. A 16) : inscription par arrêté du 9 mars 1965
Protection dates
1965/03/09 : inscrit MH
Type
château
Main period of construction
15e siècle, 16e siècle
Ownership
propriété de la commune
Commune
Ham
Département
Somme
Region
Hauts-de-France
Country
France
Coordinates
49.74345, 3.07310
Mérimée reference
PA00116172

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1607 map "Picardia" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

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This record on the Ministère de la Culture's POP platform ↗

The Ministère de la Culture's notice

Cité dans une charte de 1052, le château de Ham fut reconstruit au 13e siècle par Odon IV de Ham qui lui donna son plan définitif, composé d'une enceinte polygonale cantonnée de grosses tours cylindriques. Enguerrand de Coucy racheta la seigneurie en 1380 et sa fille la revendit en 1400 à Louis d'Orléans qui l'intégra à son réseau de forteresses, parmi lesquelles La Ferté-Milon, Pierrefonds et Fère-en-Tardenois. On doit à son intense activité de bâtisseur la reconstruction de la forteresse, reconstruction parachevée après 1418 par Louis de Luxembourg, qui avait acquis la seigneurie à la suite de l'assassinat de Louis d'Orléans. Pourvu d'une chemise bastionnée au 16e siècle, le château, converti en prison d'Etat au 18e siècle, reçut comme hôtes illustres Mirabeau et, surtout, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, qui s'en évada de façon rocambolesque en 1846. Dynamité par les Allemands en 1917, le château ne conserve plus aujourd'hui en élévation que sa tour d'entrée, de plan carré, ainsi qu'une partie de son réseau d'enceintes.

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Mentioned in a charter of 1052, the castle of Ham was rebuilt in the 13th century by Odon IV of Ham who gave it its definitive plan, composed of a polygonal curtain wall flanked with large cylindrical towers. Enguerrand de Coucy repurchased the lordship in 1380 and his daughter resold it in 1400 to Louis of Orléans who integrated it into his network of fortresses, among which La Ferté-Milon, Pierrefonds and Fère-en-Tardenois. The intensive building activity of this lord is responsible for the reconstruction of the fortress, reconstruction completed after 1418 by Louis of Luxembourg, who had acquired the lordship following the assassination of Louis of Orléans. Provided with a bastioned outer wall in the 16th century, the castle, converted into a state prison in the 18th century, received as illustrious guests Mirabeau and, above all, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, who escaped from it in spectacular fashion in 1846. Dynamited by the Germans in 1917, the castle today preserves in elevation only its entrance tower, of square plan, and part of its network of curtain walls.

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Base Mérimée, Ministère de la Culture, data last updated 2026-09-17, reused under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab). Record text is reproduced unchanged. Ministère de la Culture · Licence Ouverte 2.0
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