Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Neuville Castle is a building located in Neuvy, in the Allier department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Built mainly in the 19th century in a neo-Renaissance style, it is distinguished by its main building on one level, its large door openings and its two-tiered forebody. Two quadrangular pavilions, built in the seventeenth century, flank the main building, adding an older historical dimension to the whole. Since 1973, the castle has been home to an agricultural vocational training centre for adults, giving it a contemporary educational vocation.

The seigneurial origins of the castle date back to 1466, when the first seigneur of Neuville was mentioned in the Burrow of Bressolles. In 1503, the Secuyer Jehan de Maignons acknowledged to hold the house of Neuville, with its outbuildings, of the Duchess of Bourbon. The seigneury then passed to Guillaume Ollivier in 1579, who married Christine de Beaucaire. He was the brother of the latter, Rodolphe de Beaucaire, who inherited the estate and in 1604 undertook major transformations, including the addition of the two quadrangular pavilions which still surround the main building.

The castle thus illustrates a marked architectural and functional evolution, ranging from a medieval seigneurial residence to a renovated building in the 17th and 19th centuries, before becoming a place dedicated to vocational training. Its history reflects the social and economic changes of the region, from feudality to modern times, to architectural transformations linked to the tastes and needs of successive owners.

External links