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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Charry, located in Montcuq-en-Quercy-Blanc (Lot, Occitanie), finds its origins in the 15th century with the Charry family, local merchants who had reached the nobility. Pons de Charry, called a donzel around 1460, and his son Augier, captain of Montcuq, built a dungeon flanked by two polygonal towers, protected by a enclosure of which remain a round tower and a barbacan. This den, originally called Malmon-le-Petit, becomes the seat of a military line on the rise.

In the 16th century, the castle passed to Jacques de Prévost, nicknamed the "Second Bayard" for its weaponry in Italy. Close to Catherine de Medici, he organized the French Guards before being murdered in 1563. His niece, Peyrone de Charry, married Jean de Vezins, Sénéchal de Quercy. The estate, modified in the 17th century by the addition of house bodies, remained in the Charry until the Revolution, then in the Lavaur de Charry.

In the 19th century, a building connects the house to the round tower of the rampart. The castle, which was abandoned, was saved in the 20th century by Colonel Bonnafous de Caminel and restored in 1984 by its present owners. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1976, it also houses the writer David Garnett, who died on site in 1981. Its architecture mixes medieval donjon, Renaissance elements and subsequent developments, testifying to six centuries of Quercy's history.

The park, structured by centuries-old aisles and trees, surrounds the remains of the fortified enclosure. An underground formerly linked the barbacan to the dungeon, highlighting its defensive role in the Charry valley. The chapel in a round tower, the cannons protecting the well, and the modifications of the 18th and 19th centuries illustrate its functional and symbolic evolution.

The Charry family, first merchant and then noble, embodies the typical social ascent of the Centennial Quercy Postwar. Their decline in the 18th century contrasted with their military climax in the 16th century, marked by Laurent de Charry (1530–1563), organizer of the Royal Guard. The castle, now privately owned, perpetuates this heritage through its stones and archives.

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