Nonan Castle (Matran)

Nonan, located between Corminboeuf and Matran, has been inhabited for a very long time. Research was carried out in 1909 by Abbot Henri Breuil, the "Pope of Prehistory" and the first historian at Lascaux. In the Murat-Nonan forest region, his work brought to light a tumulus from the Hallstatt period (750-450 BC). In 1869, the remains of a Roman villa were uncovered in Nonan. A sandstone column from Molière is the last visible witness to this.

Although it is near Matran, Nonan became part of the municipality of Corminboeuf. The patrician house of Nonan, built in the 18th century, belongs to our architectural heritage. For a long period, the von Reynold family owned the area and other buildings in the small village of Nonan. In the state archives, we find a note that Pierre Chollet, who inherited Nonan from the castellan, sold this extensive property to the Reynold family on May 31, 1777. In the 1930 volume of the Fribourg Etrennes-Nachrichten, an obituary was dedicated to Colonel Alfred-Louis von Reynold (1832-1929) of Nonan. This former officer in the service of the King of Naples - as his father Pierre had been - later became an officer in his own country. He commanded in Fribourg during the entry of the Bourbakis in 1871, and was appointed regimental commander during the reorganization of the army in 1874. On August 5, 1914 - he was 83 years old - he galloped into the courtyard of Saint Michel College, sent by the military director to receive the oath of the mobilized Fribourg troops. Alfred-Louis von Reynold was undoubtedly the longest-serving member of the Grand Council of all time. He was a deputy from 1880 until his death in 1929 - that is, at the age of 97! We will no longer see him, wrote Tobie von Raemy, author of his obituary, taking advantage of a sidewalk to swing into the saddle for a journey from Nonan. The colonel needed a sidewalk because he was very short (5 feet, one inch, 5 lines, which is about 1.54 m). When he was in Naples, Raemy further wrote, the beauties of Naples rushed to the window to see the smallest officer of the foreign regiment.

Various owners succeeded each other at Nonan Castle. The von Reynold family sold it to the Wander company. This company rented out the castle. Then the name Nonan was associated with that of the Blancpain family, whose first representatives founded the Cardinal Brewery. Pierre Blancpain, the managing director of the brewery, became the owner of Nonan Castle in 1958, and members of his family lived there until 2004.

Aloys Lauper, responsible for buildings in the cantonal service of cultural heritage, shared the history of the castle with us:
According to Mr. Pierre von Reynold, who now lives in Geneva, the manor house was built in 1732. The masonry is indeed characteristic of Fribourg manor houses from the 1730s. This type had already been developed in the 1680s, and its most characteristic element was the abandonment of the polygonal stair tower outside the main structure in favor of a central staircase with alternating landings (Manor of Gingenrain, Manor of Cottens, Manor of Affry in Givisiez, House of Affry in Fribourg).

Typical of country houses at that time was the cubic floor plan with the main facade on three axes, corner chains made of molasse, simple frames without ornamentation, such as the Mansart roof structure, which allowed for the arrangement of the roofs.

Important work was carried out in 1917 with the construction, in particular, of the annexes flanking the original cube, which was then equipped with a simple gallery leading to the latrine tower outside the main structure. Since then, the manor house has been rebuilt and has lost the essence of its original extensions. With the oven, the storage room, and the large farm, it nevertheless represents a remarkable example of a patrician "campaign" in which all elements have been preserved (only a chapel was missing). Thanks to Blancpain, this place is today one of the most beautiful patrician estates in the canton.