History

The origin of the name Montrouant takes us back to the Gallo-Roman age, when the name Mons Rotundus was used to describe the small hill beside the current site of the castle, where the small chapel of the beginning of the 19th century can still be admired. Mons Rotundus literally means ‘round mountain’, and indeed, the shape of the hill, which is planted with vines and protects the castle from the cold north wind, is perfectly circular. Frenchification of this name initially led to Montronant and finally to Montrouant, which is also written as Montrouan.

The site is so old that during work in a field near the castle an arrowhead and several worked pieces of flint have been found. In that same field, fragments of roof tiles and pottery from the Roman age have been uncovered as well. A great many other ceramic fragments, excavated during the planting of the vineyards surrounding the chapel, were dated around the 10th and 11th century by the Dijon Museum of Archaeology. In those days, a one- or two-story wooden tower stood on the top of the hill, surrounded by upright wooden poles, making this one of the first fortified castles!

The first known lord of the castle was Guyot-Grandjean, who acquired the castle in 1396. The Grandjean lineage lived in Montrouant for a long time, but they were succeeded by the Chevalier family in the 17th century as a result of alliances and inheritances. The Chevaliers held sway over Montrouant until 1829, when the line of Perrin de Daron et de Cypierre took ownership. Between 1840 and 1850, they had the castle built as we know it today, with their coat of arms adorning the entrance gate.

The old walls, now hidden under the ground, the old foundations, still visible in the caves, and the cadastral plans from the Napoleonic era are silent witnesses to the many different adaptations and reconstructions that the castle has undergone. The central part of the structure and its south wing were built on the same site where the castle stood in the 17th century. For reasons unknown to us, the construction of the north wing, undoubtedly intended to create symmetry, has never taken place. However, the remaining 17th century wing helps us form a picture of this period’s architecture and lifestyle.

By the end of the 19th century, the Montrouant estate still comprised several hundreds of hectares of land and 7 or 8 farmhouses. However, during the previous century, several landowners detached themselves from the estate. Some, like Mr Sermaize, expanded their property and restored the estate, while others divided it and parcelled it out, often for speculative purposes. Today, Montrouant extends over 25 hectares.