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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

Gironville's bastide, also known as Fort Sarrazin or Les Terreaux, is an ancient 14th-century fossil house located in Ambronay in the department of Ain. Built between late 1324 and early 1325 on the orders of Count Édouard de Savoie, it served as a strategic fortification during the war against Dauphiné. Its role was to block the passage between Ambronay and the left bank of the Ain, thus preventing enemy troops from advancing.

The site, briefly occupied between 1324 and 1337, was equipped with a complex defensive system: a 35-metre square platform, surrounded by deep ditches and ramparts. Wooden buildings, including four towers and a kitchen, were erected there. Military artifacts, such as d'arbalete tiles and a stone ball, attest to its warlike function. The bastide was abandoned after the Savoyard defeat at the Battle of Varey.

The current remains, partially preserved, have since the 16th century been called "Fort Sarrazin". Archaeological excavations of the site revealed traces of original constructions, such as a masonry well and pavement fragments. Ranked a historic monument in 1993, the bastide illustrates medieval military architecture and conflicts between Savoy and Dauphiné.

The bastide was the heart of a three-kilometre cut-off, connecting Ambronay to Ain. Powered by the creek of Cosance, this system of ditches and ramparts on earth was designed to flood the plain in case of attack. The materials found (tails, nails, torchis) confirm the ephemeral but strategic nature of this fortification, intended to protect the backs of the Count of Savoy during the siege of the castle of Varey.

Historical sources, such as the construction account published by Paul Cattin, describe precisely its construction and armament (arbalets, balists, espringales). Despite its rapid abandonment, the bastide remains a rare testimony of earth fortification techniques in the Middle Ages. Its classification in 1993 underlines its heritage importance for the military history of the region.

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