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Legendary castleDordogne

Château d'Excideuil

Excideuil

Dimensions
An enclosure in two parts: the bailey of the knights to the south, the upper court of the viscounts to the north. The keep combines two square towers of the 12th and 13th centuries linked by a high wall, directly above a rock cut back over the Loue. Gatehouse with drawbridge framed by two corbelled turrets and preceded by a barbican, remodelled around 1580 by Nicolas Rambourg, the architect of Hautefort. Residential range with cross-mullioned windows and a small spiral stair tower.
Period
First half of the 11th century for the origins, keeps of the 12th-13th centuries, gatehouse of the 14th-15th centuries remodelled around 1580, seigneurial residential range of 1582-1587, further work in the 18th century.
What stands there
Listed as a monument historique (classified) on 11 July 2014, two earlier listings having been repealed (PA00082526). Shared ownership: the eastern part, residential range and keep, is private; the rest belongs to the commune of Excideuil.

The château d'Excideuil is a fortress of the viscounts of Limoges, founded in the 12th century to watch the road from Limoges to Périgueux and mentioned around 1100 in a deed of gift from the viscount Adémar to the abbey of Uzerche. It held out against Richard the Lionheart in 1182-1184, fell in 1199 into the hands of John Lackland through the viscount's treachery, and returned to the viscount Gui V around 1210-1211. Philip the Fair passed through in 1303, the future pope Clement V in 1304. During the Hundred Years' War it withstood an assault in 1346, was occupied by the English in 1351, changed hands several times, then was retaken in 1370 by Du Guesclin's troops. In 1582 Henry of Navarre sold the castellany to Count François de Pérusse des Cars; it passed by marriage to the Talleyrand-Périgord family and Louis XIII raised it to a marquisate in 1613.

Further reading

Getting there : The part belonging to the commune is open for unguided visits; the eastern part, residential range and keep, is private property.

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 d'Excideuil
Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

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In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).