En un regard
Le château en bref
The Herlegem estate, in Kruishoutem (Kruisem), is a moated castle built on a rectangular island between the Herlegemstraat and the Zaubeek, on the border with Waregem. The Flemish inventory suggests a very ancient origin, possibly Frankish, as the suffix -gem in the place name suggests. Seat of the lordship of Herlegem, a dependency of that of Ayshove, it belonged in the early fifteenth century to the Van Herleghem family, then in the early sixteenth century to the Rufelaert family. Sold in 1661 as a "house surrounded by water on a motte" with a water mill, it has been in the hands of the Van Pottelberghe family since 1680. The present castle, in the Louis XVI style, is said to have been rebuilt on older foundations in the second half of the eighteenth century; it received an additional storey in the nineteenth century and a flat roof after the fire of 1981. The layout of the park remains largely in accordance with a plan of 1777.