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The Châtelet in the 16th century.
Before the 16th century, we only know of Châtelet its successive owners. Around 1520, a nobleman, René Gallebrun, settled in Châtelet. He had the Châtelet built or rebuilt on an ancient medieval mound as it appears to us today. Its architecture is inspired by Renaissance motifs – notably shells and pilasters – but is still linked to the end of the Middle Ages with its fire hydrants, the grooves of the drawbridge, its moats, etc.
The chapel, the oldest part, rests under a ribbed vault decorated with the coat of arms of René Gallebrun: a lion crowned with 5 roses. At the time of René Gallebrun, there was also a windmill, to grind flour for the Château's kitchen, as well as a half-timbered building.
The Châtelet in the 19th and 20th centuries
Passed down through nine generations since 1718
En 1718, le domaine du Châtelet fut acquis par Gilles Anguille des Ruaux, qui, suite à sa nomination comme trésorier de France à Tours, possède alors de nombreux domaines dans toute la vallée de l’Indre.
Her niece, Madame de Lawhernes, left the Châtelet on her death in 1799, to one of her distant relatives René Pichard, father of Véronique Pichard, and direct ancestor over nine generations of the current owner, Véronique le Lasseux born Lannoy.
Curiously, this castle has been passed down a lot by women.
A setting that inspires writers and poets…
The writer Honoré de Balzac, who regularly stayed in Saché, a few kilometers from Châtelet, probably knew the building. In his novel La Pucelle de Thilouze, he mentions the neighboring castles.
During the Second World War, the Châtelet welcomed Loys Masson, poet of the Resistance and friend of Louis Aragon. Loys Masson hid there for more than a year, in 1943-1944, supplied by the farmers living there.
He wrote a book there, La Douve, in which he recounts in a fictionalized manner his life as a resistance fighter at Châtelet. And for the record, François de Lannoy, father of the current owner, had kept Loys Masson's camp bed.
The Châtelet Today
In the same family for 300 years, this castle, built in 1520, has not undergone any transformation since its construction, which earned it a Historic Monument in 1962.
In 2006, when my father died, my husband and I decided to undertake a long restoration campaign. After fifteen years of work, most of which was carried out by us, the restored Châtelet today welcomes tourists and lovers of beautiful stones. There, time seems to have stopped...
The Châtelet opens its doors for Journées du Patrimoine
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