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Bastide (planned town)Dordogne

Bastide de Puyguilhem

Thénac

Dimensions
The ruined bastide of Puyguilhem amounts to no more than a hamlet on its knoll. The castle keeps its ramparts, inscribed in 1927, buildings of the 17th century raised on 13th-century masonry and a rare escape tunnel; the castle mentioned in the 13th century was acquired by Henry III of England and rebuilt by Bertrand de Panisseau after 1265. No square, market hall or gate of the new town has been identified.
Period
Castle mentioned in the 13th century; English bastide founded in 1265; siege of 1338 or 1339; castle rebuilt in the 17th century on 13th-century masonry.
What stands there
The château de Puyguilhem was inscribed as a monument historique in 1927 for its ramparts, then in 2008 for the other elements. Puyguilhem is, with Roquepine, among the bastides of the Périgord that, according to Esprit de Pays, ended in failure. The place name means "Guillaume's hill" and is said to recall the settlement there of a younger son of the comital family of the Périgord.

On a knoll above the valley of the Dropt, on the boundary of the Lot-et-Garonne, Puyguilhem is an English bastide that failed. In 1265 three local lords, Hugues de Puychagut, Grimard de Picon and Hélie de Saint-Michel, gave up to King Henry III of England their rights over the fortress and the surrounding lands, on condition that a new town be built outside the castle; the foundation, entrusted to Jean de Grailly, took the name of Sainte-Eulalie-de-Puyguilhem. Besieged in 1338 or 1339 by Pierre de la Paine, seneschal of Toulouse, it saw the first use of gunpowder artillery in the region. Having become in the 17th century the property of the duc de Lauzun, who had himself called "Peguilhin" at Versailles, it is now no more than a ruined hamlet around a castle whose ramparts are inscribed and which has a rare escape tunnel. A former commune, Puyguilhem has been attached to Thénac since 1973.

Further reading

Getting there : Hamlet freely accessible by road from Thénac; the visiting conditions of the castle are not documented.

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 de Puyguilhem
Sergey Prokopenko · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Dordogne (80).