Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

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Legendary castleDordogne

Châteaux de Bruzac

Saint-Pierre-de-Côle

Dimensions
Two adjoining castles within a single enclosure, Bas-Bruzac and Haut-Bruzac. Of the lower one there survive a parallelepipedal range with cross-mullioned windows, a habitable flanking tower and traces of machicolations; of the upper, a large round tower of four storeys over a ground floor, two symmetrical towers to the north and a much-ruined range. The gatehouse keeps the housings for the drawbridge beams; a gun-loop opens at the level of the guardroom. A Gothic chapel stands outside the walls.
Period
Mentioned from the 11th century, built and rebuilt in the 12th, 15th and 16th centuries; dismantled in the 17th century, in ruins by 1792.
What stands there
Inscribed as a monument historique on 27 September 1948 (PA00082889). Private property: the Pouxviel family acquired the site and began to consolidate it at the end of the 20th century.

Bruzac is in fact two castles within a single enclosure, set on a spur above the Côle. The first known lord, Hélie Flamenc, appears in 1040 at a donation to the abbey of Uzerche; his son Guy is cited in 1112 and 1143. In 1243 Gui VI, viscount of Limoges, acknowledged that he held of the bishop of Angoulême half of the castle and honour of Bruzac. A division between Flamenc brothers, following an inheritance of 1244, created the two fortresses; a lawsuit of 1258 awarded Bas-Bruzac to the viscount of Limoges and Haut-Bruzac to Aimery IX de Rochechouart. The English occupied it during the Hundred Years' War and were driven out in 1404–1405 by the lord of Albret, constable of France. The Wars of Religion brought several sieges there between 1530 and 1560, and Richelieu ordered its dismantling in the 17th century. By 1792 the two castles were no more than a stone quarry.

Further reading

Getting there : Viewing the exterior from the road is free and unrestricted; paying tours of the interior are offered, times to be checked with the owners.

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

Châteaux de Bruzac
Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).