Krombrugge Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Krombrugge Castle (Crombrugghe) stands at Melle, in the municipality of Merelbeke (East Flanders), west of the Hollebeek, on an estate of about four hectares. The site grew out of a farm belonging to St Peter's Abbey in Ghent: Count Arnulf the Elder granted the estate to the abbey in 964, and an abbey farm with its own manor court took shape there. A fortification against the Normans is said to have existed earlier. A first castle, with a circular ringwork surrounded by a wide rectangular moat, was probably built between 1444 and 1625, perhaps on the site of a motte. The present building, a rectangular double residential block of two storeys and seven bays under a slate hipped roof, probably dates from the mid-18th century. Its brick façade, painted pink, is enhanced by a central gable with a triangular pediment, an oculus and a decorative vase. An avenue of beech trees, laid out in 1785 across the former outer bailey, leads to the castle; the castle farm lies to the south. The estate has been listed in the Flemish inventory of architectural heritage since 2023.