Castle of Bourmont: A Historic Seigneurial Residence and Fortified Site
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page9 sections
History
Castle of Bourmont is a historic seigneurial residence and fortified site in France, associated with the lordship of Bourmont and shaped by building phases from the sixteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. The lordship stood within the Barony of Candé, on the boundary between Anjou and Brittany. From the fourteenth century, it was held by the La Tour-Landry family and later by the Maillé de La Tour-Landry family.
From the La Tour-Landry family to the Ghaisne de Bourmonts
Bourmont passed to the Ghaisne de Bourmont family through the marriage in 1691 of Marie-Hélène de Maillé de La Tour-Landry, who lived from 1670 to 1752, and Marie-Henry, Count of Ghaisne, who lived from 1662 to 1710. The Ghaisne de Bourmont family still owned the property in 2013.
Revolutionary and nineteenth-century associations
During the Chouannerie in 1795, a royalist and counter-revolutionary insurgency in western France during and after the French Revolution, the royalist commander Vicomte de Scépaux established his headquarters at Bourmont.
Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisne de Bourmont, was born at Bourmont in 1773 and died there in 1846. A French military commander, he led the French conquest of Algiers in 1830 and was later appointed Marshal of France, one of the country’s highest military distinctions.
Modern protection and restoration
The castle is privately owned and is undergoing restoration. Part of the property was listed as a French monument historique, a protected designation for a site recognized for historical or architectural significance, by an order dated 29 January 1993.
Remains
Castle of Bourmont retains important medieval defensive works alongside buildings added or extended between the sixteenth century and the end of the nineteenth century. The surviving complex therefore combines military remains with later residential and estate buildings.
Medieval defensive works
The castle preserves remains of medieval defensive military works. Its north tower dates from the sixteenth century, providing a surviving element of the later development of the fortified site.
Later estate buildings
Outbuildings and orangery
Two outbuildings and an orangery were built in 1702 in the Louis XIV style. An orangery is a building intended to shelter citrus trees and other tender plants, especially during winter.
Principal residence
The principal residence dates from 1892. Bibard and Lediberder built it in the Neo-Gothic style, adding a late nineteenth-century residential building to the earlier defensive and estate structures.
