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Legendary castleDordogne

Château de Nontron

Nontron

Dimensions
A building of rectangular plan with a ground floor, one storey and mansard attics. The east and west fronts are identical: a central projecting bay of three bays framed by rusticated pilasters and surmounted by a carved triangular pediment. Inside, a monumental staircase and panelling of the period. Of the medieval castle — curtain walls, keep, towers, Romanesque chapel — only the vaulted cellars survive.
Period
Present château built from 1751 and completed in 1788, restored after the fire of 1850; vaulted cellars surviving from the medieval fortress, on a castrum attested in 769.
What stands there
Inscribed as a monument historique on 9 November 1984 for the façades, the roofs and the library with its panelling (PA00082714). Property of the commune of Nontron since 1984. A Fondation du patrimoine appeal was launched in 2020, with 100,000 euros from the Mission Patrimoine and 100,000 euros from the Axa group.

The site of Nontron is one of the earliest attested in the Périgord: in the second half of the 8th century, Roger, count of Limoges, made a gift of the castle to the abbey of Charroux, and the texts name it Castrum Netronence in 769 and Castrum Netronensem in 785. The castrum was replaced in the 11th century by a true fortress, passed on to the viscounty of Limoges in 1258. Du Guesclin stayed there in 1377; Coligny attacked it in 1569 during the Wars of Religion; Henri IV sold it in 1600 to the house of Coulonges-Pompadour. Two fires, in 1672 and 1713, finished it off. From 1751, Jean-Charles de Lavie, president of the parlement of Bordeaux, had the classical château that is seen today built on the remains, completed in 1788 and restored after a further fire in 1850.

Further reading

Getting there : Municipal property open to the public: since 2009 the château has housed the Pôle expérimental des métiers d'art of Nontron and the Périgord-Limousin, and the tourist office desk is on the ground floor.

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

Château de Nontron
Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).