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Origin and history

Baudry Castle, also known as Boudric or Boudry, is a former fortified house built in the early 16th century in the commune of Arthaz-Pont-Notre-Dame in Haute-Savoie. Unlike defensive castles, it is a plain castle, without natural protections, located along the departmental road 1205, east of the village. Near remains suggest an earlier occupation, perhaps linked to an older fortification belonging to the d'Arthaz family.

The current construction was attributed to Raymond de Baudry in the early 16th century. Baudry's family, committed to revolutionary ideas, retained its property during the French Revolution and even acquired national property. Their political involvement continued in the 19th century: Victor de Baudry, close to the Republicans of Giovine Italia, took part in an expedition led by Mazzini in 1834 to overthrow the Savoyard monarchy. Sentenced to death in absentia after the uprising failed, he fled to the United States.

In the mid-19th century, Louis de Baudry, former director of the major seminary of Lyon, erected a neo-Gothic chapel on the site of the former parish church of Arthaz, adjacent to the mansion. The chapel, blessed in 1853, houses the tombs of Louis de Baudry and his sister, Jeanne Eugénie de La Fléchère, Countess of Veyrier. In 1864, the estate moved to Édouard Chardon, tanner in Bonneville, through his marriage to Hélène de Baudry. It renovated the castle around 1880, giving it its present appearance: a square construction flanked by a round tower housing the staircase (repaired in 1828) and a terrace framed by two small towers.

The castle, typical of Savoyard fortified houses, illustrates the architectural and political transformations of the region, from the wars of Religion to the Revolution, through the republican movements of the 19th century. In the 20th century, it became the property of the Vernotte family, marking the end of the Baudry era.

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