Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Châtenoy Castle, located on the left bank of the Saône at the entrance of the village of Châtenoy-en-Bresse (Saône-et-Loire), is an architectural complex dating entirely from the seventeenth century. Its house body, structured around a ground floor, one floor and one floor of attic, has two symmetrical facades with a forebody of five spans each. The chapel, built in 1692 independently, as well as the communes (including a partially preserved " chalet") and a park of seven hectares planted with 800 trees of 40 different species, complete this estate.

The history of the castle is marked by three successive families. The Brunet family, present in 1650, included among its members lawyers, secretaries of the king, and Vivant Jean Brunet-Denon (1778–66), general and deputy of Saône-et-Loire, made Baron d ́Empire. In 1830 his daughter Élise married Jean Joseph, Baron de La Roche Nully La Carelle, transmitting the estate to this lineage. In 1863, Geneviève Marie Vivantine, the last heir of this family, married Édouard, Count Claret de Fleurieu, before the castle was sold in the second half of the 19th century to Albert, Viscount de Mazenod.

Purchased by the municipality in 1977, the château de Châtenoy has been reconverted: the ground floor now houses the town hall, the first floor of the rental apartments, the communes a party room, and the former guard house a library. This transformation illustrates the adaptation of historical heritage to contemporary needs, while preserving its exceptional setting.

The coats of arms of the family owners — Brunet-Denon (gold with a three-shelled dazur fascice), La Roche Nully La Carelle (silver with a d'azur band charged with a golden sun), and Mazenod (three-wheeled dazur gold) — testify to their noble heritage and their local anchor. The park, with its varied species such as biloba ginkgos or lime trees, remains a major asset of the estate.

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