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Origin and history

The castle of Ladhuie comes from the construction of a dam on the Lot at the end of the 13th century, financed by Edward I of England to facilitate river transport between Quercy and Bordeaux. This dam, known as d'Orgueil, was erected with ten others between 1291 and 1294 by local entrepreneurs such as the Lustrac, under the supervision of the connétable d'Angolive. The river lords, including those of Ladhuie, joined fortifications to control the tolls, before the works were interrupted in 1294 by the seizure of the Agenas by Philip the Bel.

During the Hundred Years' War, the Tower of Organ (or Ladhuie), disputed between the French and English parties, was taken in 1424 by Lancelot de la Barthe for the English, then taken over by Naudonnet de Lustrac for the king of France. At the end of the 15th century, the medieval tower was replaced by a mansion, probably for Armand de Laduguie (mentioned between 1502 and 1506), husband of Jeanne de Lustrac. This manor house, characterized by sills and a "French" roof, illustrates the transition between feudal defense and seigneurial residence.

In the 16th century, a second house corps was added, attributed to the family of Lagoutte (or La Goutte), local lords. The castle was enlarged in the 17th century, including a vaulted domestic chapel, forbidden in 1667 after a pastoral visit. Seized as national property in 1794 during the Revolution, it was sold to Jean Maydieu for 160,000 pounds. Ranked a historic monument in 1950, it preserves Romanesque elements (geminated windows) and Renaissance (chimneys of the seventeenth century), as well as a natural spring in its basement.

The architecture of the castle reflects its successive phases of construction: a first stone house of the 15th century, backed by a stone body of the 16th-17th centuries, with a staircase in an exceptional tower. Modern restorations aim to preserve this heritage linked to economic (fluvial) and military history (the Hundred Years War) of the Lot Valley. Today in the process of restoration, it bears witness to seigneurial strategies between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

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