Château de Corcelle, castle

Château de Corcelle stands on a small plateau above the Valouze valley in Bourgvilain. Its buildings, of varied plans and elevations, are arranged around a rectangular inner court linked by curtain walls and ringed on three sides by partly filled-in moats. Round towers flank the north-east and south-west corners; the main wing faces the farmyard, entered through a semicircular cart gate beside a pedestrian door.

The name Corcelle appears in a Cluny cartulary of 984. The castle was probably built between the 14th and early 16th centuries, when the Verrey family were lords. In 1520 the fief passed to the Busseul Saint-Sernin family, and in 1642 it was sold to Laurent de Laube. In 1794, after Louis de Leusse was decapitated, his widow sold it to the Martinot brothers.

The castle is private property and cannot be visited; the buildings and the partly filled-in moats are seen only from outside. It stands on a small plateau above the Valouze valley in Bourgvilain, in Saône-et-Loire. Access to the farmyard is through a cart gate under a semicircular arch beside a pedestrian door under a flat arch.

The name Corcelle appears in a cartulary of Cluny as early as 984, long before the Verrey family built the castle between the 14th and early 16th centuries. The round tower with its conical reddish-brown tile roof, seen from outside the walls, is one of two flanking the quadrilateral, on the north-east and south-west corners.