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Origin and history

The castle of Pontarmé, located in Oise, finds its origins in the 13th century under the impulse of the family of the Bouteillers of Senlis, local lords linked to the bishop of Senlis. The seigneury then passed through alliances and successive sales to the Beaumont, Lorris, then Chauvigny, before being dismantled in 1431 upon the request of the inhabitants of Senlis, the castle having become a den of robbers during the Hundred Years War. This dismantling marks the end of the first medieval building, whose remains will serve as a foundation for subsequent reconstructions.

At the beginning of the 16th century, under Bertrand Lorfèvre and his wife Valentine Lhuillier, the present castle is erected in a Renaissance style, with a main house and a characteristic fortified door. The Lorfèvre family, originally from Paris, mainly uses the estate as a hunting relay, taking advantage of the proximity of the forest of Chantilly. In 1545, the connétable Anne de Montmorency bought the seigneury and integrated it into Chantilly's estate, where the castle now served as a farm and as a cynegetic relay until the French Revolution.

In the 20th century, the castle, then transformed into a farm, was restored and restored to a residential vocation. In 1986, its most remarkable elements (fortified gate, bridge over the moat and all the moat) were listed as historical monuments. The house, although reconstituted in a Renaissance style, is not protected due to its successive changes. Since 2010, the site has hosted various activities, including receptions and, until 2023, a private Montessori school.

The architecture of the castle mixes medieval traces (mâchicoulis, barbacanes) and Renaissance additions (windows, turret of stairs). The fortified door, the oldest element, is surmounted by a room illuminated by sill windows and flanked by massive piles. The house, partially rebuilt, preserves triangular pediments and a recent gallery on the courtyard. The moat, still in water, belt the whole, forming an almost square island.

The castle also served as a cinematic setting, notably for Serge de Poligny's Le Baron phantom (1942). Its history reflects the political and social upheavals of the 14th to 16th centuries, marked by the Hundred Years' War, seigneurial conflicts and the rise of great noble families such as the Montmorency. Today, although private, the site remains an architectural testimony of the transitions between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Picardia.

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