Château d'Esparron

English translation

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History

The keep, built before 1248 and raised after 1411, constituted the major point of a more substantial castral residence of which vestiges are still present. This seigniorial residence comprised a square tower (present keep) flanked by a projecting body on which the latrine tower rested. In the fortified courtyard stood a dwelling block comprising a large hall on the upper storey, served by an external straight staircase and decorated with painted heraldry of Raymond d'Esparron. At the end of the 15th century, enlargement works were carried out around the original courtyard of honour: raising of a spiral staircase, of a linking body between the keep and the staircase, of a north wing which partly rests on the medieval great hall, of the entrance block. At the end of the 16th or beginning of the 17th century, an interior fitting-out campaign transformed the medieval hall of the north wing into rooms with coffered ceilings and painted beams. In the second half of the 18th century, the seigniorial castle was radically transformed into a pleasure residence by the reconstruction of the south wing which opens onto the countryside. The crenellation of the keep was reinstated at the end of the 19th or beginning of the 20th century.