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Key figures

Origin and history

Rosamel Castle, located in Frencq in Pas-de-Calais, is an 18th-century building built on the remains of a 15th-century strong house. It consists of four housing bodies organized in square around an inner courtyard, with stone architecture and a slate roof. The property, surrounded by a park today partly converted into agricultural land, also includes outbuildings and an old chapel.

The history of the castle began in 1710, when Louis du Campe, squire and lord of Tardinghen, acquired the seigneury of Rosamel, including a castle and a lower courtyard. In 1770 his grandson, Claude Louis Marie du Campe de Rosamel, Marshal of the armies of Louis XV, entrusted architect Giraud Sannier with the reconstruction of the residence, completed only in 1820. When he died in 1808, the estate moved to his son, Claude du Campe de Rosamel, naval officer, minister and Pair of France.

The castle remained in the family until 1919, when it was sold. Ranked Historic Monument in 1966, it fell into ruins from the 1970s with partial collapses of roofs and floors. Its homogeneous plan, centered on an inner courtyard similar to a well of light, and its location between Montreuil and Boulogne-sur-Mer, 12 km from the sea, make it a remarkable architectural and historical testimony of the region.

The sources also mention reference works, such as those by Michel Parenty, Henri Lorge, and Philippe Seydoux, which document the history of the castle and its owners, linked to the aristocracy and the local administration of Boulonnais.

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