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Bastide (planned town)Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Labastide-Villefranche

Labastide-Villefranche

Dimensions
The 14th-century square tower, 28 metres high, half limestone and half granite, inscribed as a monument historique since 1915; the streets in a "V"; the houses with carriage porches bearing a rare collection of dates carved on the surrounds, from the 17th to the 19th century; the house known as that of Jeanne d'Albret; the church of Saint-Sauveur; the Château-Bijou and its park with a reconstituted cloister; less than four kilometres away, the chapel of the commandery of Ordios, founded in 1150.
Period
Bastide founded in 1292; fortress of 1338, tower raised higher around 1350; destruction of 1523; Protestant temple destroyed in 1682; fire of 1763.
What stands there
Tower inscribed as a monument historique since 1915; chapel of the commandery of Ordios classified in 1992. The Château-Bijou figured in 2022 among the twelve sites of Nouvelle-Aquitaine selected by the Loto du patrimoine. The village, which once counted nearly 1,000 inhabitants, has about 300 today since the disappearance of its market. Member of the Fédération des Bastides d'Aquitaine.

On the winding frontier that separated the Béarn from the lands of the king-duke of Aquitaine, Labastide-Villefranche was founded in 1292 by Marguerite, viscountess of Béarn, to protect the new capital Orthez and to answer the English pretensions of Hastingues and Bayonne. Each settler received a corner of land exempt from taxes, whence the name Villefranche. The layout of the streets forms a curious "V", without a central square, perhaps the trace of an earlier market town. Around 1350 Gaston Fébus fortified the bastide and had the square tower of 28 metres raised higher, the only vestige of the fortress known as the "Bastide de Béarn". Destroyed by the troops of Charles V in 1523, Protestant among the first in the Béarn, burned in 1763, the little town keeps its tower, its houses with carriage porches bearing carved dates, the house where Jeanne d'Albret slept with the future Henri IV in 1564, and the surprising Château-Bijou.

Further reading

Getting there : Freely accessible market town; the Château-Bijou is private property undergoing renovation. No market or tourist office on the spot is 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

Labastide-Villefranche
Jean Michel Etchecolonea · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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In the same department

All places — Pyrénées-Atlantiques (24).