Château fort de Beaufort

English translation

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History

Built to watch over and dominate the Loire valley, the château de Beaufort constitutes an interesting example of the adaptation of a 13th-century feudal castle to the evolution of military construction, notably artillery. It experienced historical importance during the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion, but fell victim to progressive abandonment after the Revolution which reduced it to a state of ruin. The building presents a curtain wall, partly rebuilt in the 15th century, which surrounded the fortress halfway up the slope of the mound. The castle itself was, from its origin, of square plan with a courtyard occupied on the south side by a main dwelling built against it. Antoine de la Tour had added to it in the 16th century a tower on the north-west corner, a large horseshoe tower on the south-west corner, a false bray of which the north section subsists and part of the south section with corner tower. Inside the curtain wall, only a few vestiges at ground level or buried allow one to guess at the divisions of the inhabited parts. To the north-east, remains of a vaulted chamber and a fireplace. The 15th-century tower was reinforced internally by a lining wall and pierced with arrow slits and gun ports.