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Origin and history

Uzel Castle, located in Pelousey in the Doubs department, is a monument whose exact date of construction remains uncertain. The archives concerning him were destroyed during the French Revolution. The first attested mention dates back to 1776, when he became the property of Claude-Edme Lamy de Laperrière, by his marriage in 1755 with Claude Alexandrine Bietrix, daughter of a parliamentarian and mayor of Besançon. Its origin is estimated between the 17th and 18th centuries, reflecting a typical architecture of the seigneurial and then bourgeois residences of Franche-Comté.

In 1778-1780 Claude Alexandrine Bietrix, due to her husband's marital difficulties, sealed her property and sold it to Jean Stanislas Dunod de Charnage and his wife. The Dunod de Charnage family occupied the castle for about fifty years, before it was acquired in 1873 by Dominique du Pouey, a retired general who died there the same year. In 1881, the Doubs General Council purchased the estate for 50,000 francs, marking the beginning of its transformation into a religious and educational institution.

As early as 1881, the castle was sold to the Sisters of Wisdom, who set up an institution for the deaf mute, originally founded in Besançon in 1877. In 1919, a cave in Lourdes was built to commemorate the preservation of the parish during the First World War, blessed in 1921. This place becomes a symbol of local devotion, integrating the castle into a spiritual and community dimension.

In 1934, the castle was acquired by the Compagnie de Marie, a Montfortan movement, for 250,000 francs. It was then home to the Apostolic School of Liège, with a first re-entry in 1938. The site develops with agricultural infrastructure (dusthouse, hens) and architectural extensions, such as the rise of dormitories in the 1950s. The chapel, built between 1961 and 1962 according to the plans of architect Rainer Senn, marks the culmination of this educational and religious period.

The 1970s saw a decline in school enrolment, leading to the gradual secularization of education. In 1982, the courts ceased permanently, and the castle was put on sale, while the cave was left to the town of Pelousey. This transition reflects the social and educational changes of the time, ending almost a century of religious and educational vocation.

Since 1983, the castle has been owned by the Adapei de Besançon, which installs an ESAT (Establishment and Work Help Service). Initially focused on agricultural activities (breeding, processing), the site re-focussed in the 1990s on collective cooking and poultry farming. Today, only the farm of Uzel remains on site, perpetuating a social and professional dimension adapted to contemporary needs.

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