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Origin and history

Castelbon Castle is located in the municipality of Betchat, in the Ariège department, in the Occitanie region. Located northeast of the village, near the hamlet of Hourtigé, it dominates the Lens and remains inaccessible to the public as private property. Its U-shaped architecture, flanked by four towers (two squares to the south and two rounds to the north), reveals successive defensive adaptations, such as archery and snout holes, as well as 16th and 18th century developments.

The first historical mention dates back to 1211, during the siege of Toulouse, where Raimond At de Castelbon, lord of the place and vassal of the Count of Comminges, died. In the 14th century, the castle passed under the control of Roger de Comminges, who took the title of Baron de Roquefort in 1394. His descendant, Roger III, married Alix de Rivière in 1468, and their daughter Isabelle brought Castelbon in dowry to the Viscounts of Joyeuse in 1490. The seigneury changed hands in 1556, given to Pierre de Bertier, before experiencing a succession of owners, including the family Saint-Jean de Pointis, marked by François Joseph de Saint-Jean, Marshal de camp and mayor of Betchat under the Restoration.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the castle became a worldly place of life under Luillier (early 1900), then a model farm in the 1950s with Gilbert Tocanier. Purchased by antique dealers, lawyers, and then by Martine and Michel Vrinat in 2006, he keeps traces of his transformations, such as agricultural outbuildings or developments for commercial activities (hotel-restaurant, sale of objects). Despite its evolution, its medieval structure, with barbacan, ditches and missing drawbridge, recalls its initial defensive role at the boundary of the counties of Foix and Comminges.

The site, although private, was the subject of ad hoc cultural activities in 2008, highlighting a local interest in its heritage value. Its history reflects the noble alliances, territorial conflicts and economic adaptations of Ariège throughout the centuries.

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