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Origin and history

Chaulnes Castle, located in Noyarey in the Isère department, is a former seigneurial house dating back to the seventeenth century. Its name is linked to the family of Chaulnes, native to Picardie or Burgundy according to the sources, and settled in the Dauphiné in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. This estate, erected as a marquisat in 1684, was successively owned by aristocratic families such as the Sassenage, the Chaulnes, and the Caulet de Grammont, before being transformed architecturally in the nineteenth century by the Thomas family.

The foundation of the castle is attributed to the arrival of the Chaulnes, a noble family whose geographical origins are debated: some works link it to the Picardie (city of Chaulnes in the Somme), while others attach it to the Tonnerois in Burgundy. The Chaulnes, close to the house of Clermont-Tonnerre, settled in the Dauphiné and acquired the land of Noyarey in 1613. The estate, initially a hunting lodge of the Barons of Sassenage, became a marquisat under Joseph de Chaulnes, before passing into the hands of Grenobles bishops in the 18th century.

In the 18th century, the castle belonged to two bishops of Grenoble: Paul de Chaulnes (1721–25) and Jean de Caulet (1727–71), who used it as a summer residence. Upon his death, the estate was left to the hospital in Grenoble and sold in 1743 to Jean de Caulet. After the Revolution, he moved to the Thomas family in 1830, which added two turrets and modernized the building. The castle changed hands again in the 20th century, becoming an orphanage after the First World War, before being bought by the Deverre family in the 1920s.

In the 21st century, Chaulnes Castle is a private property dedicated to organizing events (marriages, exhibitions, seminars). Its architecture, marked by the additions of the 19th century, preserves original elements such as old parquet floors and a vaulted cellar. The estate, surrounded by a garden and a terrace with views of the Chartreuse, is today an active cultural place, regularly hosting exhibitions of contemporary art.

The castle is also known as Château des Glairons, with reference to the neighbouring hamlet on an ancient sandy bed in Isère. Its location, on an eminence near the Vercors cliff, makes it a landmark visible from the old national road 532, now declassified to RD 1532. Its history, mainly documented by Canon Cyrille Thelliez in 1961, reflects the social and architectural changes of the Dauphiné from the 17th to the 20th century.

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