Château de la Forêt

English translation

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History

The first known lord was Jean de la Porte in 1243. The present castle dates from the 15th century. It formed a square with four towers at the angles. Surrounded by ditches, it possessed a drawbridge and an entrance keep. At the end of the 18th century, the east and south wings and the south tower were demolished, as was the entrance keep. A large part of the ditches was filled in. There remain two perpendicular corps de logis, reworked during the transformations of the 18th century, three circular corner towers, two square turrets and one round turret as well as the south moat. Access to the courtyard of honour is by a stone bridge crossing the moat. The south end of the west wing presents a rectangular pavilion in a right-angle return which appears to be the beginning of the former south wing of the medieval castle. The towers and turrets were pierced with large windows in the 18th century but have preserved, at the top, their small original openings and arrow-slits. The interior arrangement dates from the restoration of the 18th century. The apartments were remade in the 19th century. The only original elements are a stone spiral staircase, on corner squinches, in the square turret of the courtyard and a square room, at ground level of the adjacent round tower. Former chapel, it is rib-vaulted.