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Origin and history

Angrie Castle, located in the department of Maine-et-Loire, is a neo-Gothic monument built between 1846 and 1847 by architect René Hodé for the Countess of Lostanges. This vast rectangle flanked by four round towers, crowned with machicoulis and slender roofs, rises in the center of medieval moat twelve meters wide, remains of the old castle. The interior decoration, entrusted to the painter Achille Léger, specialist in opera decors, makes it an artistic gem. First example of a neo-Gothic style in Anjou, it will influence many castles built in the region during the second half of the 19th century.

The lordship of Angrie, attested from the twelfth century, belonged to the family of Andigné, who modernized the castle in the sixteenth century by adding ditches, drawbridges and cannons. In 1586, René d'Andigné described it in detail, mentioning its fortifications and its walled park. The lineage of the D-Andigné died in 1725, and the land was sold in 1727 to Jacques-Urbain Turpin of Crissé. By inheritance, the estate passed to the Lostanges, who undertook the reconstruction of the castle in 1846, then to the families Hersart du Buron and Kerautem, current owners.

The present castle, inscribed in historical monuments in 2008, preserves medieval elements such as moat and a two arched bridge, the last vestige of the old drawbridge. The bases of the four old towers, razed in the 19th century, still remain in the ditches dug in the rock. The commons and the farm, rebuilt in 1867, adopt a neoclassical style contrasting with the neogothic house. A restoration in the 1990s slightly changed its appearance, notably eliminating turret niches.

The castle park, opened to the west by a gate, includes an ancient cross from the Angrie cemetery. At its peak, the estate had ten surrounding farms, such as those of the Charmille (1896) or the Rochette. The architecture of the castle, mixing schist and tufe bellows, illustrates the transition between medieval traditions and 19th century innovations, while its trompe-l'oeil painted decorations, now protected, bear witness to the splendor of the period.

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