From one castle to another
Mandelieu is not lacking in castles. And it has been for centuries, built in particular to ensure its defense.
The first of these is located on Mount San Peyre , at an altitude of 131 meters, offering a 360° view of the surrounding area. Of this 12th-century fortress, known as Avinionet, mentioned as early as 1130 and destroyed in 1387, only basalt and sandstone remains, along with limestone cornerstones from Grasse, survive. The walls are completely razed, with the exception of the keep, which is in ruins, and some remnants of the outer wall.
The second is that of La Napoule , formerly Avinionet. The castle of Avinionet is mentioned as early as 1230 as Castrum Avinionenti, which came into the possession of the powerful Villeneuve family, originally from Barcelona. The second of that name, Romée de Villeneuve, was so famous at the time that the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri, in his Divine Comedy , has him enter directly into paradise: "And in the pearl where we now are / shines the light of Romée / whose work was beautiful and great and poorly recognized."
Today, a plaque fixed at the entrance to the Château de La Napoule – whose name was recorded in the 1387th century – which succeeded this Avinionet recalls it: “Raymond de Turenne, bitter enemy of the Counts of Provence-Anjou, having razed the Château d’Avignonet at the entrance to the Esterel in 1719, Guillaume de Tourrettes of the House of Villeneuve, 1919th Lord of Avignon, built it. Property of this family for four hundred years, it was acquired by Dominique de Montgrand, Lord of Mazade, in XNUMX. Threatened with ruin in the XNUMXth century, it was saved and renovated in XNUMX.”
That's all there is to it. Except for the surname of the man who renovated the complex, Henry Clews. An American painter and sculptor with a passion for the Middle Ages, he rebuilt the castle in a neo-medieval style, assisted by his wife, Mary, who created splendid gardens. Today, a foundation hosts artists in residence there.
The most recent example is Agecroft Castle, built in 1918 by an English aristocrat, Harry Leland de Langley, the name evoking the manor house his family owned across the Channel. Constructed with locally sourced materials, the red porphyry of the Estérel mountains, on land overlooking the sea, it appears to have risen directly from the rock and enjoyed a prosperous existence until the Second World War. Bombed and damaged, it was sold to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais coal mining company, which restored it and transformed it into a holiday center for its miners.
The Langleys had abandoned their Agecroft Hall property in Pendlebury, Lancaster County, when coal mining affected even their castle. The castle was sold in 1927 to Americans who rebuilt it in Richmond, Virginia, including the timber framing. Ironically, after fleeing coal and their English castle, the Langleys escaped once again to welcome blackfaces, but this time from their Mandolocan Agecroft!
