Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

Hauts Lieux›All places›Lot-et-Garonne

Bastide (planned town)Lot-et-Garonne

Tournon-d'Agenais

Tournon-d'Agenais

Dimensions
A ridge bastide on its hill, with the place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville lined with covered arcades, the belfry of 1637 and its lunar clock at the corner of the square, the maison de l'Abescat of the 13th century, known as the bishop's house, another house of the 13th century in the rue de la Citadelle, the ring road along the former ramparts, and the church of Saint-Barthélemy, rebuilt in 1884, with windows of the end of the 19th century.
Period
Celtic oppidum and Gallo-Roman settlement; bailiwick in 1257; royal bastide founded in 1271; church razed in the Wars of Religion; belfry of 1637; convent of the Récollets in the 17th century; dismemberments of 1837 and 1876.
What stands there
A member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France since 2021. The maison de l'Abescat has been classified as a monument historique since 1912; the church of Saint-André-de-Carabaisse, at Lamothe, cited as early as 1179, has been inscribed since 1994. The Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine, of which Tournon is a member, sees in it "an example of a pech controlling the routes of communication".

Tournon-d'Agenais crowns a hill of 261 metres on the borders of the Quercy, twenty-two kilometres east of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, a position which has commanded a knot of roads since the Celtic oppidum and the Gallo-Roman settlement. The royal bastide was founded there in 1271 by Philip III, son of Saint Louis, on a site which had been the head of a bailiwick since 1257, with a square of 40 metres by 30 lined with arcades. On the ring road along the ramparts, the maison de l'Abescat, of the 13th century, recalls the donation made in 1212 by Simon de Montfort to the bishop of Agen; when the Protestants razed the church, worship took refuge there. The belfry raised in 1637 at the corner of the covered arcades carries a lunar clock, and the convent of the Récollets was built in the 17th century on the ruins of the castle. A village of tourtière and of views over the Lot, Tournon joined Les Plus Beaux Villages de France in 2021.

Further reading

Getting there : Free access to the village, to the square and to the ring road round the town. Fumel-Vallée du Lot tourist office (tourisme-fumel.com) according to the Fédération des Bastides; no market day or opening times are documented in the texts.

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

Tournon-d'Agenais
Szeder László · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Lot-et-Garonne (34).