Château des Saptes

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The mill of La Torte, situated on a bend of the Orbiel, was purchased around 1500 by the Saptes brothers, cloth merchants. Their industrial establishment at Conques is a remarkable example of concentration: preparation of raw wool, washing, fulling, dyeing, weaving, finishing. The workshops were completed by the dwellings of various specialists: thread twisters, weavers, rentrayeurs, mason responsible for the maintenance of the buildings. No significant modification was made to the design of the manufacturing installations between 1534 and 1779. The castle was raised by one storey between 1663 and 1689. Lices and false-brayes disappeared in the 18th century. In 1779, the castle was sold to a doctor of Carcassonne who transformed into a garden the space to the north of the castle. The industrial buildings were razed, except those situated at the edge of the river, preserved as farm buildings. Since then, the castle has remained a simple rural estate. The castle, of rectangular plan, is flanked by three towers and, at the fourth angle, by the chapel. It was surrounded by lices encircled by walls with four small corner towers, of which only the two on the north remain. A few half-windows with horizontal mullion still exist at the round towers at the angles, as well as a few low windows with vertical mullion at the upper storey. Inside, the rectangular plan is divided in two by a cross wall. The eastern section, comprising the chapel, is built into the rock, without a cellar. The apartments were occupied by tenant farmers. The western section, over vaulted cellars, contained the large apartments around an open courtyard giving light to the spiral staircase. The original roof structures are intact and appear to date from the early 16th century. The vast roof with two slopes is supported by the gable walls and the cross wall, as well as by two series of four roof trusses, separated by this cross wall. In each truss, the tie beam is relieved by two posts directly below which two small posts support the purlins. These vertical pieces, as well as the king posts, received braces which ensure longitudinal bracing, reinforced by horizontal beams perpendicular to the planes of the trusses and assembled in the successive tie beams. The decoration is limited to the ends of the filler pieces interposed between the tie beams and the lower posts, as well as to the curved pieces which reinforce these assemblies. The chapel opens through a Renaissance doorway, with round arch with dressed lintel and moulded entablature. The pilasters are each formed by two series of mouldings which support capitals of Corinthian type. The floor covering is composed of square red bricks bearing the imprint in relief of a man-at-arms' head wearing a plumed helmet.