Château de Verdelles

En un regard

Le château en bref

Set apart from the village of Poillé-sur-Vègre, in western Sarthe, the Château de Verdelles is one of the most coherent surviving examples of a seigneurial residence from the very end of the Middle Ages in the Maine region. Completed in 1490, it combines brick and stone on a compact rectangular plan, flanked by four corner towers of differing shapes: two square towers designed for defence, which retain their crenellated wall-walk and machicolations, and two more residential polygonal towers. This duality illustrates the transition from fortified castle to country house: the military apparatus remains, but the staircase, dormer windows and interior decoration already herald the taste of the early Renaissance, in the spirit of the Louis XII style. The interior has kept all of its original fireplaces. Listed as a historic monument as early as 1922, the château belongs to private owners who have patiently restored it since the 1970s; a wooded estate of some ten hectares forms its setting.