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Origin and history

The Château du Prieuré has its origins in the 9th century, although the first written traces date from the 11th century. Founded in 1080 by the Count of Beaumont, Ives, and his wife Adèle, priory Sainte-Honorine was initially linked to the Abbey of Bec-Hellouin. A fire, following a conflict between Mathieu I of Beaumont and Bouchard of Montmorency, destroyed the castrum, church and priory around 1085. The relics of Saint Honorine, miraculously spared, were transferred to a new church rebuilt around 1086. In the Middle Ages, the monastery, placed as a beginning, gradually deteriorated, as evidenced by the reports of 1596 and 1750 describing its state of ruin.

In the 18th century, the medieval church, considered old, was replaced by a new classical building (1750-1752), designed by architects Delespine and Payen. Conventual buildings, organized in U, included a cloister disappeared before 1600, a collapsed dormitory on Rue aux Moines, and 14th century cellars still visible. The French Revolution marked a turning point: the priory, sold as a national good in 1791, was broken up, the chapel becoming assembly hall before being destroyed between 1819 and 1821.

In the 19th century, the estate became a private residence. Purchased in 1808 by the L'heir de Chézelles family, it was profoundly redesigned: the Abbatial house was transformed, an English-style garden, and a cooler installed in an ogival vaulted room. Between 1829 and 1850, several owners succeeded, including Marguerite Fardel, who added a reservoir fed by the Seine and an orangery. Josephine Marcal, then his son Jules Gévelot (from 1868), undertook major works: construction of a northern wing (1856), underground passage to the Seine (1881), and redevelopment of facades in neo-Renaissance and neo-Gothic styles. The castle was enlarged northward (porch in 1872, north wing in 1875), and provided with a winter garden, a waterfall, and a dovecote.

In the 20th century, Jules Gévelot's widow Emma retained the estate until 1927. His heirs sold him to the city of Conflans in 1931 for 2 million francs (including 1 million grants from the Seine-et-Oise General Council). The Grand Cellier of the Priory was listed as a historical monument in 1950, and the entire site in 1944. Since 1966, the castle has been home to the Batellerie Museum, while a converted barn honours the memory of the resistant Joseph Bouyssel, teacher and member of the Meilhan maquis during the Second World War.

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