A listed medieval castle on the outskirts of a Lauragais village, surrounded by 12 hectares of woods and meadows - ref 288843
A listed medieval castle on the outskirts of a Lauragais village, surrounded by 12 hectares of woods and meadows.
The estate lies on the edge of a small plateau, close to a village, with the narrow valley of the Cardijol stream forming the dividing line. The village was first explicitly mentioned in 1292. Earlier documents simply made reference to the settlement: a charter from 979 in which the name "Marcheisco" appeared, and another text from 1191 which mentioned the name "Marquino", when Lord Pierre de Marquein - known as Subirat - and his wife Jeanne Albia donated it to the Riva hospital in Saint-Michel-de-Lanès.
All day-to-day shops can be found in the village of Villefranche-de-Lauragais, a 15-minute drive away. The property is 1 hour from Toulouse-Blagnac airport and 15 minutes from the A61 motorway, which connects to Andorra in 2 hours.
The impressive fortified building is surrounded by pastures and groves of trees, as well as landscaped parklands created at the end of the 19th century. A large driveway separates the estate from a local road, with outbuildings - a shed, workshop and caretaker's lodging - just a few metres away. To the west of the castle, there remain the converted servants quarters and working buildings, as well as a 17th century dovecote built on piers, situated on the southern slope of the plateau.
Both stylistically and structurally, the castle, which should be described as a "feudal fortified mansion", appears to date from the reign of Charles VIII or Louis XII, although it was built in 1539. It consists of an elongated rectangular main building with two parallel sets of rooms, more than 27m long and 18m wide. Each corner of the main building features round towers with an external diameter of around 7.5 m, enough to cover the facades. They have arrowslits on each level, facing the entrance door and the southern curtain wall.
The roof of the central section is clad with flat tiles featuring square or rounded ends. Some of the tiles are fixed with nails. The roofs of the two front towers are clad exclusively with rounded tiles. The roof of the south-west tower has retained its sealed monk-and-nun tile ribs, while the south-east tower, whose timberwork and roof were restored in the early 20th century, now features a conical pepperpot roof.
The walls, with their regularly dressed calcareous sandstone, have an average thickness of almost 1.5 metres.
The castle was listed as a historic monument in 1972, with heritage protection afforded to its facades and its high hip roof, crowning an impressive loft.
The castleThe ornamental style of the four windows on the upper floor is typical of the Renaissance. They feature a classical Ionic order. The engaged columns rest on projecting brackets that also support the windowsills, while the lintels are topped by a rectilinear entablature without a pediment. The extremely sober articulation - only the capitals and brackets are carved - is surprising given the construction date of 1539.
Although the house may appear to reflect the medieval tradition, its layout is already influenced by the latest architectural developments in terms of interior arrangement. The block plan, with two parallel sets of rooms, was still quite unusual. The small round corner towers with square rooms and annexes were also in keeping with the new architectural trends seen in wealthy residences. However, the decorative style of the window frames, doors and crosspieces on the facades and towers is in the traditional late Gothic style of the end of the 15th century.
The spiral staircase in the tower is also medieval, as are the monumental fireplaces with moulded mantels and projecting cornices.
The ground floor
The layout of the original dwelling is fairly simple. Once you have passed through the gate and the solid wood double door, you find ...
