Château du Poyet

English translation

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History

Le Poyet appears to have begun its history with that of the family of Saix in 1312 with Guichard de Saix who paid homage to the count of Forez for his fief. The Saix line failed after more than two and a half centuries. The family Ronchevol took up the torch for a short time, Jacques de Ronchevol having only daughters. The eldest, Anne-Minerve, married François de Sainte-Colombe in 1578, the latter becoming lord of Le Poyet. The Sainte-Colombe distinguished themselves in the service of the kings of France. Jean-Louis Eléonor de Sainte-Colombe, born in 1733, carried out major renovations to the castle in 1764; he had decided he would occupy this estate with his young wife three years later. He was subsequently executed in Lyon in 1794. His son, Jean-Baptiste, took over the castle until his death in 1816. The family separated from Le Poyet around 1854, and the estate passed into several hands.

Description

The castle retains the essential features of its composition inherited from 1764-1767. It is in the southern part of the main dwelling that some elements of the former building survive, a ramped staircase and the door of a strongroom; in their extension was the Chapel of Saint-Laurent, now disappeared. The main dwelling is built on a rectangular plan oriented north-south to which two small pavilions of square plan have been added as avant-corps facing east. The main dwelling is on two storeys plus roof space and the pavilions on one storey plus roof space; all buildings are mansarded and adorned with dormers. The roof was originally to be covered with flat red tiles from the local tilery; some mechanical tiles have been used for repairs to certain parts of the roof. The castle is accessible from an avenue of honour which ends in a small bridge spanning the former moat and leading to the main entrance. The round-arched openings are framed with stone without particular moulding, as are the dormers; a clock in the roof and a small bell turret ornament the façade. The former clock bears a date of 1767; its opening is now equipped with a window. Inside, the ground floor is distributed by an entrance hall and a stone dressed honour staircase with wrought ironwork balustrade. The ground-floor rooms comprise a large drawing room, a dining room covered with a groined vault with a stone fireplace without ornament. In extension towards the north, there are small rooms for domestic use, and in the pavilion on the ground floor, vaulted with a barrel vault, a kitchen with its well and water basins. The northern part is occupied by a small room which could have been an oratory. On the south side, another drawing room with timber panelling precedes the final small room identical to that on the north side but without decoration. It leads to a stone staircase allowing access to the upper floors. The five ground-floor rooms are en enfilade and the drawing rooms have a fireplace decorated in the 18th-century style. On the upper floor the rooms are also equipped with 18th-century fireplaces and timber panelling. Note should be made of the strongroom in the southern part and the library which covers a mezzanine above the entrance hall. The second floor, although more modest, still has all the rooms for domestic use: linen room, bedrooms, also with stone fireplaces but of more recent workmanship (19th century).