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Bastide (planned town)Dordogne

Bastide de Lalinde et son château

Lalinde

Dimensions
The bastide, drawn out between the Dordogne and the hillside, keeps its plan of parallel streets, its central square and its covered market hall rebuilt in 1865, its stone cross of 1351, a few fragments of the old rampart on the river side and the porte de Bergerac, wrongly called the porte Romaine, inscribed in 1946. The château de Lalinde, or château de la Bastide, on the bank of the river, was completely rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century; the canal de Lalinde, with its aqueduct, its spillway bridge and its lock, runs along the town. A building in the neo-medieval style on the bank of the Dordogne, within the perimeter of the former bastide; the present building is a reconstruction of the beginning of the 19th century on a castle site of the 13th.
Period
A parish from the 11th century; English bastide founded in 1267; château of the 13th century rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th; canal of 1838-1843; covered market hall of 1865. — Château attested within the enclosure of the bastide since the 13th century, entirely rebuilt from new at the beginning of the 19th century.
What stands there
Porte de Bergerac listed as a monument historique (inscribed) in 1946; aqueduct, spillway bridge, lock and basin of the canal de Lalinde inscribed in 1996; church of Sainte-Colombe classified in 2002. Lalinde, said to be the first English bastide of the Périgord, belongs to the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine. Not protected as a monument historique. Fitted out for a time as a restaurant, it was in 2010 a private house. The bastide of Lalinde was founded in 1267.

On the right bank of the Dordogne, downstream from the saut de la Gratusse, Lalinde is said to be the first English bastide of the Périgord. Henry III granted it its status from London on 26 June 1267 to the knight Jean de La Lynde, whose ancestors had emigrated to England in the time of William the Conqueror; the new town, drawn out along the bank of the river, is also a port. There remain fragments of rampart on the Dordogne side, the gate known as the porte de Bergerac, the château de la Bastide rebuilt in the 19th century and, on the square, a stone cross dated 1351, a memento of the first jubilee proclaimed by Pope Clement VI. Lalinde is also the land of the coulobre, the dragon of the Gratusse that Saint Front is said to have overcome, and of the canal de Lalinde dug from 1838 to 1843 to bypass the rapids.

The château of the bastide. Lalinde is a bastide founded in 1267 on the right bank of the Dordogne, upstream from Bergerac. It has kept since the 13th century a castle within its enclosure, known as the château de Lalinde or château de la Bastide, but the present building was entirely rebuilt from new at the beginning of the 19th century; it served as a restaurant before becoming a private house again. The interest of the place for a traveller in search of stories lies elsewhere: south of the village, the river passes the dreaded narrows of the saut de la Gratusse, and the slopes of the left bank keep the cave in which the Coulobre was placed, the dragon that Saint Front drove out. The legend is attested as early as the 11th century and cited by Rabelais.

Further reading

Getting there : Village freely accessible. Weekly markets on Thursday and Saturday; flower market on 1 May. A private house, not open to visitors. The saut de la Gratusse and the "trou du Coulobre", which carry the legend, can on the other hand be seen from the banks of the Dordogne.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Bastide de Lalinde et son château
Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).