Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Magnet Castle, located in Mers-sur-Indre in the Indre department, is a private property dating mainly from the sixteenth century, although built on the remains of a medieval castle. It is distinguished by its high roofs, its pinacle windows and a neo-Gothic chapel rebuilt in the 19th century. The estate, formerly linked to the seigneury of Presles, was divided in the 13th century among several noble families, including the Naillac, before being enlarged and transformed over the centuries.

In the 16th century, the castle passed into the hands of influential families like the La Queuille, the Genouillac and the Rhodes Pot. In 1719 he was acquired by Louis-Charles de La Porte, who added a wing. In the 18th century, Jacques-Aymar de Moreton, Count of Chabrillan, installed an English-language garden and lived there during the Revolution, showing generosity towards the local poor. The castle became a marquisate before being sold in 1776.

In the 19th century, the castle was associated with emblematic figures: Count Lionel-Paul-Josselin of Chabrillan married the dancer Céleste Mogador, whose tumultuous stays marked the history of the place. In 1851, Ernest-Rigobert Simons bought the estate and undertook important restorations, adding a pavilion and a chapel. The Simons family preserves the castle over three generations, modernising farms and expanding the estate to over 4,000 hectares.

The castle of the Magnet also inspired literature, serving as a setting for La Mare au Diable (1846) and La Vallée Noire (1884) by George Sand. The writer, attached to the Boischaut region, which she calls the "Black Valley", describes a romantic and mysterious place. In the 20th century, the castle changed hands several times: it briefly housed a Benedictine monastery in the 1960s, then a new age sect in the 1990s, before being restored and transformed into guest rooms.

Architecturally, the castle combines Renaissance and classical styles, with a redesigned west façade and two imposing towers. The chapel, rebuilt between 1851 and 1870, has 19th-century stained glass windows depicting local saints such as Solange and Ursin. The interiors, described by Mogador in his Memoirs, reveal a magnificent 15th century decor, with gilded woodwork and silk hangings, although partially delabrated in the 19th century.

Today, the Magnet castle remains a private property, witness to a feudal, literary and worldly past. His history reflects the social and cultural transformations of Berry, from medieval lords to contemporary restorations, his role in George Sand's work and the excesses of Parisian life in the Second Empire.

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