En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de Potelle, in the Nord department, is a former fortress of the Hainaut whose origins date back to around 1290, when the knight Gilles de Mortagne had it built. It suffered fires in 1477, 1654 and 1793. Passed to the Carondelet family from 1490, it received an arcaded gallery in 1539, due to Ferry Carondelet, and then a restoration was undertaken in 1817 by Canon de Carondelet. In 1832, it came to Eugénie de Carondelet, wife of Jean-Philippe Fremin du Sartel, and remained in that family. The irregular polygonal enclosure in dressed sandstone is flanked by cylindrical towers; a 13th–14th-century châtelet with two semicircular towers, wide moats, drawbridges, portcullises and a keep with latrines complete the ensemble. Privately owned, it opens its doors during the Journées du patrimoine.