Photo : JackyM59 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Château d'Hardelot
Romantic sentinels, the medieval towers of the Château d'Hardelot (or Ardrelo), overlooking the Miroirs and Claire Eau lakes and the surrounding landscape, are remains of the old fortress.
The castle has a legend: it is said to have been built by Charlemagne to fight Norman invasions. Renaud de Dammartin stayed there with his wife Ida of Boulogne and signed the first town charter there in 1203.
To punish Renaud's rebellion, Philip Augustus ordered the castle destroyed; it was restored in 1228 by Philippe Hurepel, Count of Boulogne, who made it his summer residence. There, surrounded by a brilliant court and lulled by troubadours' songs, the Counts of Boulogne lived like princes, receiving guests and hunting in the forest.
In the sixteenth century, the castle, belonging to the French crown, suffered English attacks. After the death of Henry VIII in 1547, it became French again. Royal property again after the Wars of Religion, it was destroyed in 1617 on the orders of Cardinal Richelieu.
Its wall-walk, dungeons, prisons and underground passages witnessed epic fights and discreet escapes…
