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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Penne d'Agenais city gate is part of a defensive system built between the late 13th and early 14th centuries during the Hundred Years Wars. The enclosure, with three doors (the city gate to the south, Ricard gate to the east and Ferracap gate to the north), was designed to protect the agglomeration from external threats. The adjoining houses, such as that of Jean Ferrand, were integrated into the wall of the enclosure and equipped with gemini windows designed to be condemned in case of danger. These structures reflect architecture adapted to the conflicts of the period, with various materials (calcareous stone, tuff, brick) and defensive elements such as broken arches and narrow bays.

The medieval house adjacent to the town gate, about 11 meters of facade over 9 meters deep, has a three-storey structure with distinct materials. The ground floor, raised on a cellar, is pierced by a broken arched door, while the upper floors house three-legged windows (XIIIth–XIVth centuries) and remains of geminated bays. A stairwell, added at the beginning of the seventeenth century according to A. Delletery, partially alters the southeast corner. Subsequent transformations, such as the replacement of a medieval window with an 18th-century segmentary arch bay or 19th-century pierces, are evidence of continued occupation and adaptation to residential needs. The house, mentioned on the cadastre of 1830 as the property of Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin, illustrates the evolution of a defensive and domestic building.

The building, classified as Historical Monument by order of 24 July 1929, thus combines military and civilian functions. Its hybrid architecture — both rampart and home — reveals the strategies for protecting small towns during the Hundred Years War. The fortification works between 1290 and 1330, referred to by Gilles Séraphin, underline the strategic importance of Penne-d Subsequent changes (XVIIth–XIXth centuries) reflect the gradual adaptation of the building to peaceful uses, while maintaining traces of past tensions.

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