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Legendary castleDordogne

Château de Château-l'Évêque

Château-l'Évêque

Dimensions
A confused mass of towers and pavilions crowned with machicolations and battlements, capped with tall tiled roofs. Several parallel residential ranges, a western pavilion, and to the south two octagonal turrets housing spiral staircases whose carved doorways of the 15th century carry statuettes, niches and pinnacles. Mullioned windows to the south. There survive the arms of Guy de Castelnau and, in a corbelled oratory, a painted ceiling with the arms of Bishop Guillaume Le Boux. The estate covers seventeen hectares, with a bridle path of three hundred metres, an English-style park and a formal French garden.
Period
14th, 15th and 16th centuries; first building attributed to Bishop Adhémar de Neuville in the 14th century, enlargements by Guy de Castelnau around 1515-1520, further work down to the 18th century.
What stands there
Listed as a monument historique (inscribed) on 27 October 1938 (PA00082484). Private property. First mentioned in 1329 under the names Castrum Episcopi or Episcopale; country residence of the bishops of Périgueux until the Revolution, then sold as national property.

Château-l'Évêque was the country residence of the bishops of Périgueux. The first building is attributed to Bishop Adhémar de Neuville in the 14th century; Bishop Pierre Tison died there and was buried in the chapel in 1384. Around 1515-1520 Guy de Castelnau had a new range built and mullioned openings cut, and left his coat of arms. In the 16th century the château suffered repeated Huguenot attacks, and Bishop Pierre Fournier, in office since 1561, was killed at the château by his servants. In 1600, in this château, Vincent de Paul received priestly ordination at the hands of Bishop François de Bourdeilles. Sold as national property at the Revolution and stripped of its defences, the château was bought back in 1923 by the couturière Jenny Sacerdote, who restored it and created there a rose garden then said to be the finest in France.

Further reading

Getting there : Private property open to visitors; the château was for a time run as a hotel and restaurant under the name château Saint-Vincent.

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 Château-l'Évêque
Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).