A 14th-century keep where Anne Boleyn lived as a child and a detached house,
40 km from Paris, near the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse regional nature park
40 km from Paris, near the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse regional nature park
Briis-sous-Forges,
ESSONNE
ile-de-france
91640
FR
Location
The property lies in a town known for its church, which dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries. It is located south-west of Paris. You can reach this town in 40 minutes from the French capital’s Porte d’Orléans junction. The town is close to the beautiful Haute Vallée de Chevreuse regional nature park and Saclay plateau. It is a calm town, tucked away in lush surroundings. It offers essential shops and amenities, as well as schools up to the level of lower secondary school. You can get into Paris on public transport in one hour from the town: by bus then via a regional rail network.
Description
Near a church, a tall wooden gate in a crenellated stone archway leads to a keep that towers, unrivalled, over its village and surroundings. This keep is the only remnant of a medieval castle that once stood here. A drawbridge-crossed moat would have encircled the castle, which was built in the 14th century.
In 1506, England’s ambassador to France entrusted one of his relatives – the village’s lord – with looking after his daughter, Anne Boleyn. The ‘little Boleyn’, as Archduchess Margaret of Austria would call her, lived in this castle until she was old enough to be presented at court. She returned to England and became a maid of honour to Mary Tudor, a sister of King Henry VIII of England. She accompanied Mary Tudor in France when the latter married King Louis XII of France in 1514. Years later, back in England, Anne married King Henry VIII. But the king soon repudiated her, claiming that she was unfaithful. Anne’s fate then made her a legend: she was beheaded on 19 May 1536.
It was in this edifice that the ill-fated future wife of King Henry VIII – and mother of Queen Elizabeth I – spent her first flush of youth. Her long stay here left its mark on the property: Anne Boleyn’s name is still associated with the place today.
In 1772, Guillaume de Lamoignon, the count of Montrevault, ordered a demolition of the castle, which was falling into ruins. He only kept the keep and part of the annexes and two turrets, which were later demolished in the 19th century. In 1885, the keep was restored and converted into a dwelling. An adjoining tower was added to the initial keep during this period too. This tower contains a spiral staircase that connects to the different floors. In the same century, a detached house was built beside the keep.
The pair of buildings form an axis pointing south-east. The two edifices are different to each other in style, but each one has a slate roof, stone walls punctuated with windows with pane bars – in openings that are tall and rectangular in the keep and slightly arched in the detached house – and a range of stylised structural features.
In 1506, England’s ambassador to France entrusted one of his relatives – the village’s lord – with looking after his daughter, Anne Boleyn. The ‘little Boleyn’, as Archduchess Margaret of Austria would call her, lived in this castle until she was old enough to be presented at court. She returned to England and became a maid of honour to Mary Tudor, a sister of King Henry VIII of England. She accompanied Mary Tudor in France when the latter married King Louis XII of France in 1514. Years later, back in England, Anne married King Henry VIII. But the king soon repudiated her, claiming that she was unfaithful. Anne’s fate then made her a legend: she was beheaded on 19 May 1536.
It was in this edifice that the ill-fated future wife of King Henry VIII – and mother of Queen Elizabeth I – spent her first flush of youth. Her long stay here left its mark on the property: Anne Boleyn’s name is still associated with the place today.
In 1772, Guillaume de Lamoignon, the count of Montrevault, ordered a demolition of the castle, which was falling into ruins. He only kept the keep and part of the annexes and two turrets, which were later demolished in the 19th century. In 1885, the keep was restored and converted into a dwelling. An adjoining tower was added to the initial keep during this period too. This tower contains a spiral staircase that connects to the different floors. In the same century, a detached house was built beside the keep.
The pair of buildings form an axis pointing south-east. The two edifices are different to each other in style, but each one has a slate roof, stone walls punctuated with windows with pane bars – in openings that are tall and rectangular in the keep and slightly arched in the detached house – and a range of stylised structural features.
The keep
The tall square keep was built with dressed stone in the 14th century. An adjoining tower was added to it in 1885. This tower contains a spiral staircase that connects to the four floors and also leads down to the basement. The adjoining tower rises up to a crenellated platform with four corbelled bartizans – one stands at each corner. A slate roof caps this top level and cone slate roofs crown the tower and bartizans. The rendered walls leave only the quoins and window and door surrounds exposed. These walls are punctuated with arrow slits and stone-mullioned windows that are typical of the 15th and 16th centuries. Small panes form the window glazing. The keep has seven levels: a basement, a semibasement, a raised ground floor that you reach via steps outside, and four upper floors. Double windows on the two main walls fill the first two floors with natural light. The main door is in the north-east-facing wall. The walls are around three metres thick at the base and around one metre thick at the top.
The ground floor
Two crowned coats of arms are engraved in the stone above a large timber entrance door. This door leads into a hall, which takes you to a wooden spiral staircase. This winding flight of stairs draws your gaze upwards and seems to stretch so high that it recalls Cordouan lighthouse. The staircase connects to all levels in the keep. There is a kitchen filled with natural light. It leads out onto a terrace via French windows. Across the kitchen’s floor, cement tiles in a checked pattern alternate between white and terracotta squares.
Back in the hallway, a door takes you into a room called the ‘Salle des Audiences’. This is where the lord would receive his vassals. Wooden panelling adorns the walls in a neo-Gothic style. A coffered ceiling looks down at a floor of cabochon-patterned tiling brightened up by natural light from the windows. A hidden door that is flush with the wall surface leads into a storeroom built into the thick external wall. Wood strip flooring extends across this storeroom.
The first floor
The first floor has a lounge and a washroom. The vast room features a stone fireplace and a wooden coffered ceiling. Tall timber-framed windows let natural light in onto the wood strip flooring. The full depth of the window alcove is embellished with wooden panelling.
The second floor
There is a bathroom on the second floor. It is filled with natural light from two windows. A yellow mosaic surrounds the bath.
The third floor
The third and fourth floors each have a single room with wood strip flooring. They are flooded with natural light and feature exposed beams supported by corbels. These spaces on the two top floors could be divided into several bedrooms. The external walls are decreasingly thick as they go up, so the top room offers the largest space in the keep. And the four corner bartizans increase this space even more.
The tower that houses the staircase leads up to an even higher floor beneath its conic roof frame: a space that has not been converted and that offers an all-round view of the surrounding countryside.
The basement
Two vaulted cellars lie beneath the keep. One of them, beyond the keep’s base, was doubtless a starting point for underground tunnels that have now been blocked up.
The detached house
The detached house has three floors. It is capped with a mansard slate roof punctuated with curved-top dormers. The walls are made of burrstone. Brick stringcourses demarcate each floor. The window openings are shaped with segmental arches at the top. Their surrounds are made of dressed stone and they stand behind wrought-iron guardrails finely crafted into volutes. Small panes form the window glazing. A wing protrudes from one side of the house. Its first floor has brick walls, crowned with pear-shaped zinc balusters that imitate stone. The house faces south-west.
The ground floor
The main door leads into a hallway with a floor pattern of grey, white and sienna tiles. From here, a sculpted staircase of solid wood winds its way upwards, adorned with angular, flared balusters. This flight of stairs leads to the upper floors. A small room with a washbasin lies to the right. A door leads to a lounge where golden decorative touches of sphinxes and winged creatures above the door and along the cornices give the room a Directoire style. This lounge also features a black marble fireplace adorned with antique motifs. It stands beneath a trumeau mirror crowned with an eagle. A chandelier and tall windows brighten up the room’s wood strip flooring. A door leads to a fitted kitchen. Another door, now sealed off, used to take you to the boiler room, which you now reach via an outside door.
The first floor
The staircase leads up to the first floor, where a landing connects to a bathroom, a lavatory and two bedrooms with wood strip flooring. There is also a second bedroom, which is larger. This bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe and a white-marble fireplace with pilasters that feature golden embellishments.
The second floor
The second floor includes a large bedroom, a kitchenette, a bathroom with a lavatory, and two bright bedrooms with wood flooring and sloping attic ceilings.
The grounds
The grounds cover around 1,600m². They include many species of trees and shrubs. A path lined with chestnut trees leads up to the keep from the large entrance gate in a stone archway. A second gate made of wrought iron near the detached house also leads into the property. The bucolic garden is like an idyllic park.
Our opinion
Here you step into 500 years of history in a lush backdrop just 40 minutes from Paris. This majestic keep is a remarkable remnant of a larger medieval complex that once stood here. The towering structure has defied the ravages of time.
This splendid edifice has been so masterfully renovated in its entirety – based on light, space and finesse – that it seems to await a new noble lord. And the property offers another precious asset on its grounds: a detached house that could serve as a more conventional dwelling. The whole place opens up an endless range of possible projects, on condition that they are worthy of this unique gem.
Reference 737657
| Land registry surface area | 1619 m2 |
| Main building surface area | 320 m2 |
| Number of bedrooms | 6 |
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NB: The above information is not only the result of our visit to the property; it is also based on information provided by the current owner. It is by no means comprehensive or strictly accurate especially where surface areas and construction dates are concerned. We cannot, therefore, be held liable for any misrepresentation.
