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Origin and history

The Lambert Castle, built in the middle of the 18th century by Jacques Lambert (1697-1775), is an old country house combining a bourgeois residence and a winery. This Lyon bourgeois, administrator of the Hôtel-Dieu and échevin de Lyon, installs a rectangular residence with rural buildings, including cuvage, stables and a chapel. The estate, facing southeast, dominates the village from a hill, with a main facade decorated with a triangular pediment and a statue of the Virgin.

In 1775 the castle passed to Joseph Henri Lambert, son of Jacques, who was executed in 1793 for his royalistic sympathies. His daughter, Amélie-Jeanne-Hélène Lambert (1775-1851), inherited the estate and brought him to his marriage with Louis Joseph Augustin Lacour in 1803. Their three daughters, who remained single and pious, built a chapel in 1860 before leaving the castle in 1863 to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Child Jesus of Claveisolles. It established a boarding school for girls until its expulsion in 1906, after the law of separation of churches and the State.

Sold at auction, the castle became a private secondary residence in the 20th century. In 1970, the orchards in the garden were replaced by vineyards, while the chapel, whose decoration had disappeared, still bears witness to the religious history of the place. The estate preserves its wall of stone and pea, as well as its partially transformed commons. Although the processing of grapes no longer takes place, the winery remains linked to a cooperative cellar.

The architecture of the Lambert castle reflects its dual use: a bourgeois house with a staircase of honour and rooms in a line, and agricultural outbuildings (vetted cub, fenil, stables). The facade on the garden, visible from Lyon, is framed by two mansard roof pavilions. Inside, the chapel, initially decorated, marks the religious influence of Lambert heirs. The open portal of the northwest courtyard and the separate entrances for domesticity illustrate the social organization of the eighteenth century.

Ranked a Historic Monument, the Lambert castle embodies the alliance between aristocratic heritage and wine-growing activity in Beaujolais. Its history, marked by the Revolution, the piety of the 19th century and agricultural changes, makes it a witness to the economic and social developments of the region. Today, the estate remains a preserved example of a winery integrated into a bourgeois residence, characteristic of the Lyon countryside of the 18th and 19th centuries.

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