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Origin and history

The castle of Fetan finds its origins in the 16th century as a strong house, before being rebuilt in the early 17th century. In 1580 Jean Thévenon, lieutenant general at the bailliage of Dombes, acquired the land of Fetan, where there was already a fortification. Five years later, in 1585, he sold it to Antoine Jacquet, postmaster in Lyon. He obtained in 1601 the erection of Fetan's fief by Henri de Bourbon-Montpensier, sovereign of Dombes, in exchange for a tribute and golden eperons to each vassal mutation. The Jacquet family retained the estate until 1644, when Gaspard Jacquet, son of Antoine, gave it to André Bouilloud, master of petitions at Dombes' parliament.

The present castle was built in 1622, as attests to the date engraved under a scauguette. Its U-shaped structure, organised around an open courtyard, integrates defensive elements (beef, brick slats) and symmetrical houses connected by a portal. The estate then passed into the hands of several noble families, including the Beraud, the Thélis de Valorge, and the Trollier, who owned it on the eve of the French Revolution. In 1659, Pierre Perrachon acquired the fief for César Beraud, adviser to the king and recipient of the rents of Lyon. Marguerite Beraud's marriage to Louis de Letouf, Marquis de Pradines, then passed on the castle to this line, before its final attachment to the Trollier in 1777.

In the 19th century, the estate underwent major transformations under the impetus of Madame de Béligny (née Trollier). In 1842, outbuildings were demolished and rebuilt between 1843 and 1844, as evidenced by the visible modifications on the portico body and the courtyard windows. The mill, for its part, ceased its activity around 1855, although its remains and its wheel remained. The castle, partially listed as a historical monument in 1973, preserves protected facades and roofs, as well as traces of its seigneurial past, such as the arms of the Béligny engraved on the guardrails. Its park, its fence wall with a tower, and the remains of the mill complete an architectural ensemble marked by the history of the Dombes and its elites.

Historical sources, including the works of Marie-Claude Guigue (1873), highlight the importance of the Fetan castle in the local feudal landscape. Its evolution reflects the social and economic changes of the region, from its role as a medieval strong house to its transformation into an aristocratic residence, then into a bourgeois property in the 19th century. The materials used—calcareous stone, golden stone for bays, brick for scauguettes—exemplify the local resources and architectural influences of Lyon, while its U-plan and bief recall the defensive and hydraulic imperatives of modern times.

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