Bellaire-la-Motte Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Bellaire-la-Motte Castle stands in Blegny, in the province of Liège, on land that formerly belonged to the old estate of Herstal. The site known as La Motte appears in the records of the 13th century as a farmstead belonging to the nuns of the Abbey of Vivegnis, and a charter of 1279 issued by Bishop Jean d'Enghien of Liège mentions an *arx*, that is to say a fortified place. In 1509, Martin de Franche de Melin acquired the fortified farm, which the de la Motte family retained for nearly four centuries. Around 1650, the property passed to the Rossius family. In 1709, Marie-Marguerite de Rossius married Baron Michel de Rosen, an *échevin* (magistrate) of the Sovereign Court of Justice of Liège, who had the castle rebuilt between 1709 and 1714 on foundations dating from the early 17th century. The Rosen family, and later the Grady de Rosen family, lived there until 1872, when the estate was bought by Armand de Neuville, who had the moats restored and four towers added, two to the castle and two to the outbuildings. The property then passed to Armand-Léon Prion. According to a description published between 1739 and 1744, the castle then comprised two oblong wings flanking a *basse-cour* (inner courtyard), a large pavilion for the owners, a walled garden, and moats fed by running water with a drawbridge.