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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The castle of Hodebert, located in Saint-Paterne-Racan (Indre-et-Loire), is first mentioned in the 16th century. In 1545, the widow Durand, resident of the place, was summoned before the chapter of Saint-Martin de Tours. The site, then partially razed fortress, was transformed by François Brissonnet, squire and adviser to the king, who erected the central body. At the beginning of the 17th century, Hodebert became the seat of the prevotal justice of Oë: it was there in 1620 that the poet Honorat de Bueil de Racan paid tribute to his suzerain, François Brissonnet.

In 1648 Henry de Codosny, king's mansion master and private adviser, acquired the estate with his wife Madeleine Dunoyer. They build the central pavilion and a first north pavilion, modernising the whole. The Dunoyer family retained Hodebert until 1794, when Claude Dunoyer, canon of Saint-Martin, enlarged the castle. After the Revolution, the banker Alexandre Goüin and his wife bought the estate in 1794, enlarged it (land, wood, abbey of La Clarté-Dieu), and then sold it in 1808 to Louis-François de Sarcé, whose descendants still owned it today.

Today's architecture combines a 17th century central house body, framed by pavilions added in the 18th and 19th centuries. The park, registered in 1944, includes an orangery (1875), stables (1872), and a hillside remodelled into terraces pierced with cellars. The castle, classified as a historical monument in 2009, was used as a setting for audiovisual productions such as La Loi de Julien or La Rebelle (series on George Sand). A fire in 2018 damages the dovecote, recalling the vulnerability of this heritage.

The sources mention spelling variations of the name (Hadebert, Hosbert) and detailed inventories (1762, 1793) describing the evolution of buildings: press, bakery, stables, and successive enlargements. The cadastral registers (1834) confirm the addition of a library and a car rebate. The legacy of Eugene de Sarcé in 1890 to Robert de La Bouillerie seals family transmission until today.

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