Report - Château de Noisy, Belgium - September 2012

[raisinwing]

Visited with BAJ, baronvon, demonhunter, Humpa, Scattergun, ruby h smith​

Info robbed from Urbex13's report:

The Château de Noisy was built for the Counts of Liedekerke-Beaufort, a family with an illustrious history in the low countries and with important links to French aristocracy. Château de Noisy was built as a summer retreat and as a modern alternative to the family seat, the nearby Château de Vêves, which had been abandoned during the tumult of the French Revolution. It is Neo-Gothic in style and repeatedly referenced as having been designed by the English architect Milner. Following his death work was continued by Pelchner, a Frenchman. Building began in 1866 and it took more than forty years for the castle to be completed in its entirety. By the end of the First World War it was in the possession of the SNCB (the Belgian national rail company) who used it as a holiday camp for the children of railway workers. It was occupied by the Germans at the outset the Second World War and the surrounding area was at the furthest reaches of the German advance during the Ardennes offensive. Following the war it reverted to SNCB ownership and it continued as a holiday camp until the 1980s. Increasing maintenance costs led to the holiday camp business model being uneconomical and a search for investors to redevelop the castle as a hotel were unsuccessful. A fire in 1991 sealed the fate of the castle, it has sat empty since and is now close to ruin.

This was our last explore as a full group, a really nice way to end our trip together. Things didn't exactly go to plan though, originally planning to meet at 5:30am this was delayed until 10am due to a heavy drinking session the night before in the hotel. After a trek up a ridiculously steep bank and through the woods we finally got to the chateau, I think we were all blown away by the sight of it. It's just a shame that the insides are so trashed, regardless it was great to finally see this place in person and even though it's a wreck it's still pretty impressive.

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