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Origin and history

The Château de la Combe is located in the town of Prisse, in Saône-et-Loire, on a sloped plot with a dominant view of the Grosne River. Its architecture consists of a rectangular central body flanked by two wings slightly advanced to the west, with an entrance marked by a triangular pediment and an oval oculus. Two square pavilions, covered with imperial roofs and surmounted by lanterns, frame the whole, of which the southern one houses a chapel. The property, always private, is not open to the public.

The history of the estate dates back to the 17th century, when the fief was established, probably for François Barjot, a lawyer at the Paris Parliament. In 1712, his son Jacques-Marie Barjot inherited, then built the present castle around 1750, while he held the office of mayor of Mâcon. The Barjot family kept the castle until 1811, despite the revolutionary upheavals, before giving it by marriage to Pierre-Marie Choutants de Maubou. The latter sold it in 1822 to Baron des Tournelles, who undertook changes on the façade in 1845. The estate changed hands again in 1901, acquired by M. de Boisset-Clavière.

The castle illustrates the architectural and social evolution of the aristocratic residences in Burgundy-Franche-Comté, passing from the hands of robins (like the Barjot, family of parliamentarians) to those of the nobility of the Empire and then to the Earth bourgeoisie. Its state of conservation and its modifications reflect the tastes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, blending classicism and post-revolutionary adaptations. The chapel integrated into the southern pavilion also bears witness to the persistence of religious practices in private areas, even after the secularizations linked to the Revolution.

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