1 Franc 1967 - Spontin Castle


1 Franc 1967 - Spontin Castle
Added by Bart Perdieus
General Description : Spontin Castle (French: Château de Spontin) is a medieval castle in the village of Spontin in the municipality of Yvoir, province of Namur, Belgium. With its massive walls, its towers topped with slate and with its moat with drawbridge it looks like a medieval castle.

Spontin was built in a bend of the Bocq, whose water flows around the castle along some cascading waterfalls

The castle belonged to the noble family of Beaufort (named after a castle near Huy ). Between 1266 and 1284 Pierre de Beaufort built the main tower which is the core of the castle. In 1288 his son William (Guillaume), nicknamed the "Ardennes", participated in the Battle of Woeringen. Fore his bravery in battle, in which Henry VII of Luxembourg was defeated, he was rewarded with the fiefdom of Spontin. From that time the lords of the castle Spontin constantly added various outbuildings up to the 16th century when it gained its present form.

Spontin The castle was on a 'dangerous' place in the border region between the County of Namur and the Principality of Liège, and although it was assaulted by armies from Liege, Dinant, Burgundy and France, it was not taken.





The Bocq flows past the castle.
From the late sixteenth century, the fortifications became redundant and unnecessary, the castle is transformed into a residence by the drilling of windows and is accented with red bricks and roofs pepper. The last two transformations are the construction of a fortified farm beyond the moat (1622) and demolition of rear part of the fortifications. In the parade, decorated with an elegant frame of wrought iron sink Van Boeckel (nineteenth century), featuring former dungeon. The rooms of the old house, with huge walls, chimneys and Gothic woodwork Louis XIII, the sandstone paving, constrastent by their austerity with the apartments, and there is a well carved into a wall. The southern part has been decorated in the nineteenth century in the Gothic Revival. Currently, the castle is closed to the public, this is private property.
Face value 1 Franc
Catalog code (Michel) BE 1480x
Catalog code Stamp Number BE 644 Yvert et Tellier BE 1423 Stanley Gibbons BE 2026 AFA number BE 1500 Belgium BE 1423 Unificato BE 1423
Stamp colour multicolor
Stamp use Definitive stamp
Print run 87.138.056
Issue date 15/07/1967
Print technique recess
Perforation 11 1/2
Height 24.00 mm
Width 28.00 mm
Catalog prices No catalog prices set yet