Château de Châtel: A Seventeenth-Century Residence in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page7 sections
History
Seventeenth-century origins and ownership
Château de Châtel is a seventeenth-century residential château in Chatel-Chéhéry, France, constructed in the early seventeenth century. In 1666, ownership passed from the lords of Roucy to the d’Espinoy family and later to the de Salse family.
Revolutionary upheaval and restoration
During the French Revolution, the de Salse family emigrated after acquiring one of the farms belonging to Chéhéry Abbey. The château housed National Volunteers, revolutionary-era military units formed from 1791 to defend the new regime. In 1792, the Army of Condé, an émigré force organized to fight against the Revolution, pillaged the property.
A woman of the de Salse family restored the château during the French Restoration, the period from 1814 to 1830 when the Bourbon monarchy returned after Napoleon’s fall. The family retained the property until the mid-nineteenth century.
Later owners and wartime damage
The property subsequently passed to the Chenet family, including Dr. Célestin Chenet, who died in 1912, and then to his daughter and son-in-law. During the First World War, an artillery shell damaged the façade facing the valley. German troops and, later, American troops liberating the village avoided occupying the château because its exposed position made it vulnerable to artillery fire. They instead established themselves at the abbey.
Auguste Huet acquired the château in 1937. After the Second World War, one of his heirs sold it to the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, a Catholic missionary congregation known for religious and educational work. In 1994, Auguste Huet’s grandson Jacques Huet and his wife, Simone Defacque, bought the property, restored the château, and converted part of it into gîtes, or holiday lodgings, and guest rooms. Their daughter Nathalie and her husband, Samuel Cathrinet, took over in 2014. The château remains a private residence, with part of the property used for gîtes and guest rooms.
Remains
Building and valley setting
Château de Châtel stands north of the upper part of Chatel-Chéhéry, slightly below the D4 road in Rue du Château, overlooking the Aire valley. Its elongated principal building runs from south to north. Brick walls are framed by yellow-stone corner quoins and dark cross-bracing. The building contains a ground floor and two upper floors, with an attic incorporated into the roof.
Successive terraces extend above the valley, while the former Chéhéry Abbey lies farther east on the opposite side of the Aire. The façade facing the valley is visible from a considerable distance and still bears the physical consequence of the First World War artillery strike. A projecting avant-corps, a section extending outward from the main façade, is attached to the south, and another pavilion is attached to the north.
Grounds and surrounding features
The Chemin des Vinats begins shortly beyond the northern pavilion, follows the property, and descends toward the valley. Across the D4, the locality of Le Chatelet is identified as the possible site of an older château, linking the present residence with an earlier defended or residential location in the surrounding landscape.
