Photo : Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Château de Vadancourt
Count Guy Félix de Pardieu, lord of Vadancourt, Bray-Saint-Christophe and Bracheux, in the Aisne, sat in the Estates General of 1789, while the town of Saint-Quentin was represented by Abbé Marolles. The original château was built above the river Omignon. It had a terrace with an impressive balustraded staircase, a tall three-storey pavilion with a balcony on the park side, and a rear wing joining the main house, whose central projecting bay had an arched door, a balcony and an attic crowned by a curved pediment with an oculus.
In 1917, during the First World War, the dilapidated château was bombarded by the Germans and destroyed. Requisitioned, it housed the 1st company of Zivilarbeiterbataillon 24, and 500 recalcitrant prisoners were held there under Lieutenant Wetzel. The area suffered enormous damage as the village saw some of the heaviest fighting, and it remembers the bravery of the British. Today it belongs to the Houssin family, who run guest rooms there.
