Chateau de Fagnolle

Philippeville, Belgium, Belgium

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Château de Fagnolle is a ruined medieval castle located in the hamlet of Fagnolle, part of the municipality of Philippeville in the province of Namur, Wallonia, Belgium.

Built at the end of the 12th century on a raised earthwork (motte) in low‑lying, marshy terrain near the Fagne and the Calestienne limestone belt, it is unusual for Wallonia as one of the few flat‑plain castles, with a roughly square plan about 35 metres per side and four corner towers, each originally rounded, forming a strongly defensive quadrangular fortress.

The castle was the seat of the independent Barony, later County, of Fagnolle and appears in records from 1249 with Hugues I of Rumigny, passing through the Rumigny‑Florennes, Enghien, and Barbençon families before being partially destroyed in 1555 by the troops of William the Silent and eventually abandoned by 1659, after which it fell into ruin behind a double moat system and outer enceinte.

In 1969 the site was buried under 10,000 cubic metres of earth, but it was later restored and reconstructed in line with the Venice Charter, and in 2016 the King Baudouin Foundation purchased the property with the intention of preserving it and eventually opening it to the public, so that today the castle remains a romantic, legally protected ruin with the southern tower as its best‑preserved part, while public access is not permitted during ongoing conservation work.