Château de Noüe

The first known castle at a place called La Noue or the valley was built in the late tenth or early eleventh century in the village of Pisseleux, the town of Villers-Cotterets (Aisne).

It was replaced with another castle built in the thirteenth century and the fifteenth and sixteenth century castle which we still see the walls, the keep, the dovecote and the turret on the facade of the main building. The main building and the outbuildings have been renovated in the nineteenth century.

The land was owned by Noue family Noue since the eleventh century. Benefactor of the monastery of Bourgfontaine and priories in Longpré hills and Valois, the family got in 1156 Ancoul of Pierrefonds, Bishop of Soissons the right to build a chapel dedicated to St. Jacques.

Pierre II de Noue was forced to sell the land and lordship of Noue in 1539 to King Francis I, who installed the Pisseleu Heilly of Anne, duchess, his mistress.

On May 13, 1642, Robert III de Noue Noue sold the farm to religious ladies of Soissons.

The old part of the castle consists of the rectangular enclosure backed buttresses and turrets of the fifteenth century. The gatehouse is of a Francis. It is a square tower at three levels, flanked by four turrets. The upper parts have been leveled to the Revolution as a sign of "abolition of privileges." The first floor is accessed from each side to walkway.

The same period date the dovecote and the chapel. The dove is the most colossal of Valois: a diameter of 9.20 meters it rests on the ground floor of a central column in rib vaults. Above, a ladder attached to a rotating shaft, eight feet high can achieve the 3755 putlogs pots or using the nests of pigeons domaine.La chapel dates from the sixteenth century. It is reached by a door flanked by two fluted pilasters with capitals whose tympanum is carved with a raised skull and crossbones.

The main building was largely rebuilt in the nineteenth century by the family Picot, large farmers who had established their residence after the Revolution the castle. The whole front side park was renovated in the style of the First Empire. The central part of a broad pediment embellished on which throne Ceres, goddess of the harvest, surrounded by all the attributes of the abundance and agriculture. These sculptures are the work of Jules Manet, sculptor of the nineteenth century.

After the family of Anne de Noue and Pisseleu, we know that the castle in 1672, was owned by Denis Leroy, knight acquisitions. In 1793, Louis Eddy, the owner of the time making screed towers and burned the archives of the castle. In 1848, the castle was the residence in Arab leader Mohamed Ben Abdallah Bou-Maza said that after visiting the French during the conquest of Algeria was under house arrest in Villers-Cotterets. Before 1914, an American, named Henderson is the owner.

In 1957 he became the property of Pauline Lécroart-André, a family from Northern France. His son, Charles Andrew to create the Nurseries of Valois who operate in Villers-Cotterets orchards, particularly experimental. Charles Andre was named Best Fruit Grower of the Year in 1989 by the Dwarf Fruit Tree Association (United States).

The Castle is listed on the inventory of historical monuments: the "dungeon" and the oldest part of the enclosure by Ministerial Order of 1927, and the whole castle walls and roofs, loft, chapel and all the enclosure and discounts by order of the Prefect of the Region of Picardie July 5, 2004.