En un regard
Le château en bref
Lahamaide Castle, in Ellezelles (Hainaut), is today a site that has largely disappeared. A first ditched timber fortification is attested there from the twelfth century. It was replaced, before 1415, by a stone castle belonging to the barons of Lahamaide. The lordship then passed to the Luxembourg-Fiennes family and later to the Egmonts. Lamoral d'Egmont, future Count of Egmont, was born there in November 1522. In 1600, Charles II d'Egmont undertook a renovation that added a double moat, fountain gardens and a hunting park. The castle served as the Egmonts' summer residence until 1707, then became the property of the Pignatellis. It was abandoned, sold after the Revolution and demolished in the nineteenth century by a lime burner. Only one range of buildings from the early seventeenth century survives, housing former stables and a small dwelling. Archaeological excavations were carried out there from 1979 to 1985 under the direction of Michel de Waha.