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Origin and history

Château du Nozet is a building located in Pouilly-sur-Loire, in the Nièvre department, in the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region. Built at the bottom of a valley leading to the Loire, it controlled an ancient Roman road on the right bank of the river. The site, mentioned in 1234, was given to the Benedictines of La Charité-sur-Loire by Humbault le Blanc before his departure in the crusade. The monks thus became temporal lords of Pouilly. The castle, several times rebuilt, today retains only its southern and eastern wings, with architectural elements neo-Renaissance added in the 19th century for Count Lafont de la Doucette.

The estate was nationalized during the Revolution before being acquired in 1798 by Étienne Louis Lafond, who traded in Parisian wines. In the 19th century, the castle adopted a neo-Renaissance style, marked by mâchicoulis towers, pepper roofs and L-shaped houses. During the First World War, he served as an auxiliary hospital (n°17) for the French Red Cross, receiving 20 to 40 wounded between August 1914 and June 1918. In 1972, Baron Patrick de Ladoucette, heir to the family, devoted himself to local viticulture, particularly that of Pouilly.

The current remains include two bodies of rectangular houses, round towers at northeast and southeast angles, and a corbelled turret. The 1839 cadastre attested to an initial right-of-way of 50 m by 40 m, now reduced. The castle thus illustrates a history combining seigneurial power, successive reconstructions and adaptations to military and wine needs.

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