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Saint-Justin

Saint-Justin

Dimensions
The arcaded square, about forty-five to fifty metres on each side, where the market was held; the ramparts on the east side with their wall-walk; three octagonal towers and the Templars' tower; houses with carved timber framing of the 15th century, a manor house and a fortified house; the church of Saint-André, rebuilt in the 19th century while keeping medieval elements; an ancient paved slope unique in the Landes; the lock-up.
Period
Bastide founded by paréage in 1280; siege of 1359; pillaging of 1569; timber-framed houses of the 15th century; church rebuilt in the 19th century.
What stands there
Four buildings in the commune are inscribed as monuments historiques: the churches of Douzevielle, of Noët and of Argelouse, and the château de Fondat since 1999. Saint-Justin is a member of the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine and one of the best preserved bastides of the Landes.

Saint-Justin is the finest bastide of the Landes Armagnac, twenty-four kilometres north-east of Mont-de-Marsan. In 1280 this strategic site was raised to a bastide by the viscountess of Marsan, Constance, daughter of Gaston VII of Béarn, and by the Hospitallers of the order of Saint John of Jerusalem, joined by a charter of paréage. The town came through an English siege during the Hundred Years' War and the pillaging of the Wars of Religion and of the Fronde, and yet kept the essential: an arcaded square some fifty metres on each side, houses with carved timber framing of the 15th century, ramparts on the east with their wall-walk, three octagonal towers, the tower known as the Templars' tower, and an ancient paved slope unique in the Landes. The Grande Mademoiselle had a bad fall from her horse there in 1660, on the way back from the marriage of Louis XIV.

Further reading

Getting there : Free access to the village. The federation reports a large annual fair on 1 May and a summer festival; the tourist office of the Landes d'Armagnac informs visitors. Opening times 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

Saint-Justin
Ad Vitam · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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All places — Landes (27).