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Bastide (planned town)Dordogne

Bastide d'Eymet et son château

Eymet

Dimensions
The streets cross at right angles around the place Gambetta, surrounded by arcades and half-timbered houses. On the bank of the Dropt, the château de la Bastide, of the 13th century, keeps its massive square keep, an enclosure wall and a gate with a guard post. The medieval bridge of Bretou, with three arches, the remains of the quay and the port, the seigneurial mill and the Protestant temple rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century complete the route. The château has lost most of its outer enclosure but keeps imposing remains: a stretch of rampart, a corner bartizan, machicolations above the gate, and a powerful square keep that the country calls the tour de l'Évêque or tour des Anglais.
Period
Bastide founded in 1270; château and keep of the 13th-14th centuries, residential range rebuilt in the 19th; Protestant temple rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century. — 13th century for the surviving parts; the bastide of Eymet was founded in 1270.
What stands there
The bastide has formed, since 1968, a listed site of sixteen hectares. The château d'Eymet has been listed as a monument historique since 1994, the bridge of Bretou since 1995, the dolmen of Eylias since 1981 and the dovecote of La Garenne since 1974. The census of 1365 counted 282 hearths at Eymet, one of the highest in the Périgord. Member of the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine. Monument historique. The remains overlook the bastide of Eymet.

In the south of the Bergeracois, on the bank of the Dropt, Eymet is a French bastide founded in 1270 by Alphonse de Poitiers, count of Toulouse and brother of Saint Louis, on a site occupied since Gaulish and Gallo-Roman times. Its perfectly regular plan is ordered around a square forty metres a side, surrounded by arcades, set off-centre towards the river and the castle, of which the square keep of the 13th century survives. An English stronghold during the Hundred Years' War, commanded by Thomas Felton, it was besieged and taken on 1 September 1377 by Bertrand Du Guesclin. Having gone over to the Reformation in 1561, Eymet keeps its Protestant temple, its medieval bridge over the Dropt, its half-timbered houses and the atmosphere of a small market town where Thursday gathers the surrounding countryside.

The château. The château d'Eymet occupies the heart of the bastide founded in 1270, in the south of the Bergeracois, on the edge of the Lot-et-Garonne. Its surviving parts go back to the 13th century. It has lost the greater part of its enclosure, but considerable remains survive: a stretch of rampart, a corner bartizan, machicolations above the gate and above all a powerful square keep, which the inhabitants call the tour de l'Évêque or tour des Anglais — two names that keep the memory of the successive masters of the place. The whole is listed as a monument historique and access to it is free and without charge all year, which makes it one of the most easily approached sites in the district.

Further reading

Getting there : Village freely accessible. Weekly market on Thursday; Christmas market. The château de Pouthet can be visited in summer. Free access without charge all year, unguided visit without a guide. On site: a picnic area, a bar-café, a restaurant and a play area (Dordogne Périgord Tourisme).

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 d'Eymet et son château
Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).