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Castle à Rochefort-en-Yvelines dans les Yvelines

Yvelines

Castle

    23 Rue de la Pie
    78730 Rochefort-en-Yvelines
Crédit photo : Auteur inconnu - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1200
1600
1700
1800
1900
2000
Fin XIe siècle
Construction of the first castle
XVIe siècle
Destruction during wars
Début XVIIe siècle (vers 1620)
New seigneurial residence
1830
Sale to Bernis family
Fin XVIIIe siècle
Third built castle
7 octobre 1931
Partial ranking at MH
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Louis XIII building and ruins of the tower (Box C 87, 89, 525; B 148, 149): registration by order of 7 October 1931

Key figures

Gui Ier de Rochefort (dit Le Rouge) - Lord and Founder Built the first castle around 1100.
Hercule de Rohan, duc de Montbazon - Owner and reconstructor Fits to build a home around 1620.
Charles-Louis Gaspard de Rohan - Last owner Rohan Constructed the third castle in the late 18th century.
Aimé de Pierre, marquis de Bernis - Acquirer in 1830 Get the deprecated domain.

Origin and history

Rochefort-en-Yvelines Castle is a former castle today in a state of ruins, located on a rocky spur in the Yvelines department. Built between the 11th and 12th centuries, it served as a watchtower on the road to Chartres, allowing for the control of pilgrims travelling to the cathedral. Its remains include courtines, a tower, and the foundations of a quadrangular donjon in opus spicatum, typical of medieval defensive architecture.

Gui I of Rochefort, nicknamed Le Rouge and from the family of Montlhéry, reportedly erected the first feudal castle in the late 11th century, during the reign of Philip I. This strategic site also housed the present church, built below, as well as a primitive village surrounded by ramparts. Archaeological traces reveal an occupation prior to this period, but successive wars and heritages have profoundly altered the site.

Destroyed during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century, the old castle retained only two courtesies and one tower. At the beginning of the 17th century, Hercules de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon, built a new seigneurial residence, now extinct. Rohan's family owned the estate for 235 years, until Charles-Louis Gaspard de Rohan erected a third castle at the end of the 18th century. In 1830, the estate, then depreciated, was ceded to the family of Bernis, then sold in 1855 to the La Rochefoucauld.

The current ruins, partially classified as historical monuments in 1931, include an irregular fortified enclosure of 1,650 m2, adapted to topography. The site also includes a triangular base and a 19th-century transverse wall, reflecting late redevelopments. The 150-metre-long rocky spur offered an ideal defensive position, with a 40-metre elevation from the village.

Near the church, located on a rocky slope, remains the remains of the first village of Rochefort, surrounded by a one metre thick rampart. This site illustrates the evolution of a medieval fortress as a seigneurial residence, then in picturesque ruins, while preserving remarkable architectural elements such as the opus spicatum of the dungeon or the sandstone and flint walls.

External links