Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Beyzac Castle, located in Vertheuil en Gironde, is a 18th and 19th century residence, listed as a historical monument since 2006. The site has been occupied since Antiquity, as evidenced by the Gallo-Roman remains discovered in 1814 during the planting of the vineyards. These excavations revealed an industrial construction dated from that time, including basins, an oven, and objects such as bronzes of Constantine and a tile engraved "CVBVS MERVIA". The maps of Cassini (1747) and Belleyme (1785) already mention the castle, suggesting an ancient existence.

The castle, probably rebuilt or rebuilt around 1750 by the family of Camiran, is described in 1771 as a wine estate including house, cellar, cuvier, vineyards and land. During the Revolution in 1793 he served as a prison under the supervision of the Lesparre Committee. The Baron de Pichon-Longueville, mayor of Pauillac, is detained there, and the poet Romain Duperier de Larsan releases his mother there, evoking the place in his poem The Revolutionary Verrous. Sold as a national property in 1793, it was bought by the widow Camiran, then passed into the hands of several owners in the 19th century, including Jacques-Henri Wustenberg, MP and merchant.

In the 19th century, the castle was profoundly modified, especially in the 1860s, with the addition of a rotunda and a west facade framed by pavilions. After a period of abandonment in the 20th century, where the interiors were destroyed and the park left abandoned, the estate was bought in 1998. The new owners partially restore the site and replant the surrounding vineyards. Today, the castle, with its dovecote, remains a private property protected, witness to the architectural and historical evolutions of the Médoc.

The excavations of 1814 revealed a rare example of Gallo-Roman industrial building in Gironde, with parallelogram foundations (40 m x 7.50 m), tiled basins, and an oven dug into the rock. These discoveries, combined with the objects found (bronzes, engraved tile), attest to an old occupation of the site, long before the construction of the present castle. The map of Belleyme (1785) confirms his existence before the Revolution, during which time he played a political and prison role.

Architecturally, the castle presents a rectangular plan preceded by a courtyard framed by communes, closed by a grid in the east. The west facade, decorated with two square pavilions, dominates a terrace and a cut-paned rotunda added in the 19th century. Inside, a wrought iron staircase, probably rebuilt during the 19th century modifications, illustrates the successive transformations of the building. Registration for historical monuments in 2006 today protects this heritage, combining ancient, revolutionary and winemaking heritage.

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