Vestiges du château de Mondon

English translation

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History

This castle belonged to Guy Le Roy then Louis du Plessis, ancestors of the Cardinal de Richelieu. The fortified castle was completely rebuilt at the end of the 16th century. Entry is made by a door with pediment which was preceded by a drawbridge. It opens in the middle of the west side of the enclosure of which the south-west angle is defended by a tower with loopholes, crowned with a dome. The courtyard accesses a second door with posterns, flanked by pilasters, which gives access to the court of honour. The seigneurial dwellings have almost entirely disappeared. The castle extended to the south of the court, but only the lower storey of the south wall remains. This wall ends in a rectangular corner pavilion. To the east, a projection of the wall testifies to a large corner pavilion. At the re-entrant angle, a squinch must have supported a turret. On the ground floor of this pavilion was found the chapel. To the south of this group develop the western and southern walls of a rectangular enclosure, an advanced defensive work of which the angles carry watch towers. In the middle of the south wall, a large console supported a now-disappeared turret. At the north-east angle, a large cylindrical tower, of which only the lower storey remains, reinforced the enclosure.