Château de Fourilles dans l'Allier

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Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Fourilles, located less than 400 meters north of the village of Fourilles (Allier), is distinguished by its body of rectangular houses with stone dots, backed by a round tower on the south side. A square tower of stairs, partially rebuilt, dominates the north courtyard, while at about fifty meters to the southwest, a massive tower – now dovecote – probably marks an angle of the primitive enclosure. The remains of ditches, once fed by the Boublon waters, recall its original defensive system.

The seigneury of Fourilles belongs to the family of Chaumejean as early as 1540, when Antoine de Chaumejean inherited it by donation of his brother-in-law, Jean d'Anlezy. In March 1610, the land was erected as a marquisat for his grandson, Blaise de Chaumejean, captain of the king's guards. The estate changed hands in 1647, when Thomas Le Lièvre, Marquis de La Grange and intendant of Paris, acquired by auction. The letters patent of October 1648 confirmed his status as a marquisate.

In the 19th century, the castle passed to Adelaide Édouard Le Lièvre de La Grange (1796-1876), a diplomat and academician, who kept it until his death without descendants. His heirs then sell it. The castle, restored and renovated in the last century, is today a private property not open to the public. Its park, traced around the house, and its modernized surroundings contrast with the medieval elements still visible, such as the ditches and the dovecote.

Fourilles's history illustrates the transformation of a seigneury into a marquisate under the Old Regime, then its evolution into an aristocratic residence before becoming a private domain. The architectural traces – towers, ditches, houses – bear witness to his successive functions, between defense, prestige and seigneurial life.

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