Château d'En-Bas

Château d'En-Bas is an 18th-century manor house standing in Belloy-sur-Somme, a small commune on the river Somme in the Hauts-de-France region, about 16 km northwest of Amiens. The village is unusual in having two châteaux side by side - this one, the "lower" château (En-Bas), and a second, the "upper" one (En Haut) - which is where the distinguishing names come from.

What does the building look like?

The main house is capped with a hipped roof and four corner turrets. Above the roofline sits an extra story, crowned by a carved heraldic composition - the work of the Duthoit brothers, sculptors better known regionally for their contribution to Amiens Cathedral. It's a small detail worth pausing on, since it shows the same local craftsmen decorating private country houses alongside their grander church commissions.

Next to the main house stands a neoclassical chapel built in an Italian Baroque style, unexpectedly ornate for such a small village. Together with the estate's old greenhouse, this chapel holds the highest level of heritage protection among all the buildings on the property.

What's inside the park?

The park surrounding Château d'En-Bas kept changing throughout the 19th century. From 1833 until the century's end it was extended toward the nearby marshland along the Somme and reshaped into a loose, landscape-style garden rather than the strict geometric layouts typical of earlier French gardens. Three small bridges and an artificial grotto built from cement "rockwork" - a technique used to imitate natural stone, popular in 19th-century gardens - have survived on the grounds.

A separate feature is the heated greenhouse, which still has its original hydraulic system and interior finished in the same rockwork technique as the grotto. It's a rare surviving example of a complete period glasshouse setup, from an era when a heated orangery was very much a status symbol for a landed estate.

How did the château take its current shape?

The building's history goes back to the late 18th century, but what stands today is largely the result of renovations carried out in the 1830s. Earlier, between the late 1700s and the first quarter of the 19th century, the farm buildings were extended and new wings were added to both facades of the main house. A deeper transformation followed in the 1830s, bringing new structures and a redesigned park - and it's this phase that shaped the estate as it appears now.

Why is the estate protected?

The château, chapel, farm buildings, greenhouse, caretaker's house, and the entire park - including its paths, hydraulic network, bridges, and rockwork features - were listed as a registered historic monument on 18 March 2009. The chapel and greenhouse received the higher classified-monument status on 4 February 2011 (amended on 18 October 2011). The scope of the listing shows that heritage authorities valued not just the main house, but the whole historic layout of the grounds.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between Château d'En-Bas and Château d'En Haut? They are two separate châteaux in the same village, Belloy-sur-Somme, both dating from the 18th century but with different architecture and history - "En-Bas" (lower) and "En Haut" (upper) refer to their relative position.

Can visitors go inside Château d'En-Bas? The château is privately owned, currently managed by an association, and publicly available information does not list regular visiting hours - it's worth checking locally or with the town hall for current access.

What's the château's most distinctive feature? The four corner turrets under the hipped roof, and the carved heraldic decoration by the Duthoit brothers crowning the building.

How do you get to Belloy-sur-Somme? The village sits on the N235 road, about 16 km northwest of Amiens, in the Somme river valley.