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Origin and history

The castle of Méru, also called Tour des Conti, is a medieval castle built on the commune of Méru, in the department of Oise. Originally built at an unspecified time, it was destroyed for the first time during the revolt of Jacquerie, a peasant uprising of the Middle Ages. After its reconstruction, it was further dismantled by order of the Cardinal of Richelieu in the 17th century, before being revised during the same period.

In 1751 a fire ravaged the castle. Louis-François de Bourbon-Conti, a member of the princely family of the Conti, then set up a hunting meeting in place of the ruins. At the French Revolution, this estate was confiscated and sold as a national property on 19 July 1799. Later, Louis XVIII, then Count of Provence, bought the estate, as evidenced by his still visible coat of arms carved in stone.

Today, the original castle remains only a tower, called "Tour des Conti", a vestige of the medieval enclosure. This tower was the subject of two major restoration campaigns. The first, launched in 2001 by the Community of Communes of the Sablons, concerned roofing (replacement with slates in scales), cornice and stone trimmings. A second campaign aimed at restoring the tower's barrel, thus consolidating this last architectural testimony of the castle.

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