Richemont Castle (Charente)
Richemont Castle is a castle in western France . It is located in the municipality of Cherves-Richemont in the Charente department .
history
Around the year 1000 a small fortress was built on the rocky spur of Richemont in the form of a square donjon with a fountain and a perimeter wall set on the edge of the plateau. From this first castle, which was destroyed by Richard the Lionheart in 1179 , only the crypt of the Church of St-Georges remains.
A mansion was built on the foundation walls of the castle. Seguin de Richemont is attested as the first master on this property for the year 1224. In 1610 it became uninhabitable, only the visible foundations in the cellars of the current building and the round pigeon tower , built by Charles de l'Estang between 1574 and 1582, have been preserved.
At the beginning of the 17th century a new castle was built on the ruins, consisting of two houses with slate roofs , of which the main gate and the tinned gate wall remain, as well as the forecourt, one of the two round towers and the large stone staircase.
In the 19th century, two transverse buildings were built behind the inner courtyard and one to the north, the two residential buildings were raised, the chapel was erected, the right wing was added and then extended. All of these buildings are bounded by the ledge. The entire complex belonged to the Bishop of Angoulême for a while and housed a small seminary until 1968 .
The IREO institute then set up shop here, offering training in agriculture, viticulture and services before the buildings were sold to the Cognac municipal association .
architecture
From the castle built in the middle of the 16th century, only the round pigeon tower, the cellars and the four slate-covered houses remain.
Of the original two towers that flanked the forecourt, only one still exists. The entrance gate and the long crenellated curtain wall date from the 17th century.
In the 19th century the neo-Gothic chapel was built and the south wing was redesigned.
The first courtyard was completely renovated between 2007 and 2009, and since then the new boarding school of the IREO Institute has been housed here.
The Saint-Georges de Richemont church , which emerged from the former castle chapel, has a 19th-century crypt that has been classified as a monument historique since September 29, 1907 .
The ledge on which the Richemont castle complex is located is a protected area. Next to the castle there is a church rebuilt in 1857, the ruins of the former castle and the old cemetery.
See also
Web links
- Article on the history of the castle at histoirepassion.eu (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Histoire du Château de Richemont à Cherves-Richemont. histoirepassion.eu, October 12, 2007, accessed June 6, 2013 (French).
- ↑ website IREO Institute. institut-richemont.fr, accessed June 6, 2013 (French).
- ↑ Entry No. IA00059055 in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French).
Coordinates: 45 ° 43 ′ 8 " N , 0 ° 21 ′ 36" W.