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Origin and history

The Château de la Grande Filolie is named after an ancient oil mill located on a nearby stream. There were eleven sites called La Filolie in the Dordogne in 1873. Built between the 15th and 17th centuries, it was listed as historical monuments in 1947. The castle originally belonged to the family of Beaulieu, a line of robe linked to Montignac. Antoine de Beaulieu, seigneur of the Filolie in 1536, was probably at the origin of his construction. In 1549, a lord of the Filolia was mentioned for a noble contribution in the diocese of Sarlat.

In the 16th century, Jean de Beaulieu, squire, inherits the estate and married Hipolite Angèle de Salignac Fénelon, sister of the famous writer. The castle then passed into the hands of the Gaubert family in the 18th century, with Jeanne Chapt de Rastignac, widow and benefactor of the Sarlat hospice, as owner until 1768. In 1769, the Marquis des Cars became its lord, before the domain was passed on to Dominique de Beauroyre, Marquis de Villar, on the eve of the Revolution.

The post-Revolution inventory reveals a castle mainly dedicated to agriculture, with few inhabited rooms. In the 19th century, it changed hands several times: sold in 1891 to Octave Rousselet, then in 1905 to M. Babaud de Prasnaud, who probably restored it. In the 20th century, it was briefly owned by François Coty, who undertook restoration work. Its architecture combines a body of old L-style houses, a western wing flanked by mâchicoulis square towers, and a 17th-century chapel dedicated to Sainte-Marie.

The castle illustrates the evolution of the Perigord manors, moving from a medieval fortress to a seigneurial residence, with defensive elements (machicoulis, breche) and Renaissance additions. A wing containing the commons, visible on a plan of 1892, was destroyed after that date. The roofs of lauzes and the shelled pediments make an architectural example.

According to Monumentum, the castle was built in the 14th century and redesigned in the 15th and 16th centuries, partially ruined by the Huguenots in 1572. It preserves defensive features such as a full-walled door protected by a heavy-duty and screw-bridge slots. The chapel bears a cross of Malta, and the interiors house 17th century woodwork.

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