Remember the year 1297. This is when the story of Ch\u00e2teau Poullet in Lille begins. After the siege of that year, Philippe le Bel ordered its construction. He wanted to assert his authority over Flanders.
The Ch\u00e2teau Poullet we are talking about is also known as the Ch\u00e2teau de Courtrai. It was a royal fortress. It stood to the northeast of Lille. Its location was on the Basse-De\u00fble River. This was near the road to Bruges. Today, that’s the Rue de Gand. The ch\u00e2teau was between the present-day Rue des Tours and Avenue du Peuple Belge.
Its construction had a big impact. The old suburb was destroyed. A new road was created around the ch\u00e2teau. This is now Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue de Courtrai. A new gate of Courtrai was also built.
Imagine the structure of Ch\u00e2teau Poullet. It was an irregular quadrilateral. It measured 150 by 190 meters. The inner area covered 2.95 hectares. The walls were between 2.30 and 5 meters wide. Several towers stood along the enclosure. They were about 14 meters in diameter. A moat surrounded the ch\u00e2teau. The Basse-De\u00fble fed the moat. The fortress had two gates. Each had towers and drawbridges.
The Bruges road ran through the fortress. It ran between the two gates. One was the “porte de devant.” The other was the “porte de derri\u00e8re.” That road is now Rue de Gand.
The fortress controlled access to Lille. Anyone from Flanders had to pass through it. It was a strong defense for the city.
Inside Ch\u00e2teau Poullet, there were many buildings. There was the governor’s mansion. Soldiers lived there. There were also prisons and food storage. The ch\u00e2teau stored weapons and ammunition. The city archives were in one of its towers.
But Ch\u00e2teau Poullet’s time as a fortress didn’t last forever. In 1577, it began to be dismantled. The city magistrate asked for it. Only the wall on the city side was demolished. The other walls became part of the city’s defenses. King Philippe II recognized the city’s ownership in 1579.
In 1617, the land became part of a new enclosure. This expanded the city. The chapel of Ch\u00e2teau Poullet remained. It was the old Saint-Vital chapel.
The canal of the Pont de Flandre was once the ch\u00e2teau’s moat. It flowed between Rue des Tours and Rue de Courtrai. It passed under Rue de Gand. It joined the Basse-De\u00fble near Rue Saint-Joseph. This canal was covered around 1900. After demolition, the governor’s mansion moved. It went to the H\u00f4tel de Santes. That’s now Rue de Tournai.
Today, little remains of the original Ch\u00e2teau Poullet. But its story is still a part of Lille. It reminds us of a time when kings and fortresses shaped the city.