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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Corcelles is located in the commune of Bourgvillain, in Saône-et-Loire, on a plateau overlooking the Valouze valley. Its architecture is characterized by buildings arranged around a rectangular courtyard, connected by courtines and flanked by round towers at the northeast and southwest angles. A main house body, adjacent to the eastern courtine, is completed by a small rectangular building. Access to the lower yard is via a carriage door in the middle of the hanger, accompanied by a pedestrian door in a basket handle. The estate, a private property not open to the public, was listed as historical monuments on 20 August 1976 for its facades and roofs.

The history of the castle dates back at least to the tenth century, with a first mention of Corcelle in the cartular of Cluny in 984. Between the 14th and the beginning of the 16th century, the seigneury belonged to the family of Verrey, during which time the castle seemed to have been built or remodelled. In 1520, the fief passed into the hands of the Busseul Saint-Sernin family, which kept it until the middle of the seventeenth century. After several transmissions by marriage or sale, notably to Laurent de Laube in 1642, the estate was acquired in 1780 by Louis de Leusse, whose beheading in 1794 led to the sale to the Martinot brothers, one of whom was mayor of Bourgvillain.

The lords of Corcelles succeeded each other through the centuries, with figures such as Jean de Verrey (c. 1375), Philibert de Busseul Saint-Sernin (XVIth century), and André-Emmanuel de Laube (1684–154). The transmission of the castle reflects alliances and political upheavals in the region, especially during the French Revolution. Historical sources, such as the Departmental Inventory of R. Oursel (1974) or the work of F. Perraud (1912), document this evolution, while emphasizing its role in the seigneurial landscape of Saône-et-Loire.

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