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Origin and history

The castle of the Phalecque, also called the castle of Fives, was initially a 16th century defensive building located in Lille, between the village of Fives and the fortified enclosure of the city. Represented during the siege of 1667, it was surrounded by moat fed by the Becquerel, with a lock system to control water level. This first castle was damaged at the end of the seventeenth or early eighteenth century, leaving room for a new residential house built further south, surrounded by gardens built at the site of the old fortress.

In the 18th century, the castle became a pleasure house adorned with a "madness" and sheltering luxury objects (delft earthenware, silver spoons), testifying to the high standard of living of its occupants. No iconographic representation of this version was found. During the siege of Lille in 1792, the castle served as an advanced post for the assailants before being burned. Its remains were then destroyed and the site classified as an area not aedificandi to avoid further invasions.

Archaeological excavations carried out between 2015 and 2018 by INRAP revealed an occupation of the site from the first century BC, with traces of agricultural exploitation (ceramics, animal bones). The archives also mention a medieval castle belonging to the family of the Phalecca in the 13th and 14th centuries, although its exact location remains uncertain. In the 19th century, the land, still girded by ancient moats, belonged to the Campion family, before becoming in the 20th century the Dondaines shantytown after the filling of the ditches.

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