Château de Serrant (des Brie aux Walsh)

Saint-Georges-sur-Loire

At Saint-Georges-sur-Loire, Serrant was built over two centuries. The Brie family held the site from the 14th century, and Charles de Brie undertook to raise a Renaissance château, but work stopped after the north tower alone. In 1636 the state councillor Guillaume Bautru bought the property and resumed the work according to the original plans; his children and grandchildren continued it. A chapel was added, its architecture attributed to Hardouin-Mansart (the Châteaux de la Loire website also cites Le Brun and Coysevox). The château was completed around 1720. In 1749 the last descendant of the Bautru family sold the furnished estate to Antoine Walsh, a wealthy Nantes merchant of Irish origin, a slave trader according to Wikipedia. The Walsh family redecorated the interior and laid out an English-style park (1820). In 1808 Napoleon and Josephine passed through; according to Wikipedia, the emperor stayed only two hours and his bedroom was never used. The marriage of Valentine Walsh de Serrant to the duke de La Trémoïlle brought the château into that family, around 1830 according to Wikipedia. The library keeps the first complete edition of the Encyclopédie. The château has remained private property, inhabited by the descendants of the La Trémoïlle.

Getting there: At Saint-Georges-sur-Loire; visit and opening hours to be checked. Coordinates: OpenStreetMap (Nominatim), consistent with Wikipedia (47°24′54″ N, 0°44′38″ W). No protection date was found in the sources read.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound