Coutant Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

In Saint-Hilaire-sur-Helpe, in the Avesnois area in the south-east of the Nord department, Coutant Castle is an early eighteenth-century residence that has retained an older round tower. The present building was erected around 1714 by François de la Combe, a military engineer trained at Vauban's school, which probably explains the care taken over its defences: it was originally protected by a moat and a drawbridge. Jean Le Brun acquired it in 1721, after which it passed to Jean-Baptiste Cordier de Caudry. In the nineteenth century, the Recq de Malzine family owned it until 1946, when the industrialist Paul Delannoy became its owner. The château forms a U flanked by three square towers and one round tower; the north-east tower houses a dovecote. Its materials — limestone, blue stone, pink brick and slate — are characteristic of Avesnois architecture. The façade overlooking the park has seven bays across two storeys. The château, its moat, the kitchen garden pavilion, the park and the pond have been listed as monuments historiques since 28 April 1947. It is a private property.