Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Barrière Castle in Villamblard, Dordogne, has its origins at least since the 9th century, when a first building protected the road between Agen and Périgueux during the Viking raids. A church was built in the 10th century on this strategic site of the Périgord, then integrated into the Duchy of Aquitaine. The Barrière family, attested as early as 1190 with Foucaud de Barrière, took the castle to the English in the 13th century and began the construction of a dungeon surrounded by moat, mentioned in 1312. The site then depended on the grignols chestnut, controlled by Taillefer's house.

In the 15th century, the castle passed by alliance to the family of Lur, notably after the marriage of Anne de Barrière with Bardin de Lur in 1448/1449. Bertrand II de Lur, lord of the place in the 16th century, acquired judicial rights over Villamblard and transformed the castle, while his wife, Jeanne de Cardaillac, Protestant, welcomed Calvin and converted the chapel into a temple. Their son Michel de Lur, the chamberlain of the king of Navarre, perpetuated the line until Anne de Lur, the last heir, married Daniel de Taillefer in 1599, thus transmitting the estate to this family.

The castle suffered sieges during the Wars of Religion, including one in 1591 immortalized by a song. Daniel de Taillefer restored it in the 17th century, adding a body of Renaissance houses flanked by round towers. After the Revolution, the castle, sold as a national property in 1809, served as a stone quarry before being ceded to the commune in 1824. A fire in 1898 and the collapse of the chapel tower in 1980 aggravated its degradation. Since the 2000s, consolidation works have opened the site to the public, highlighting its medieval cellars, its ancient chimneys and its turbulent history.

Among the notable figures related to the castle, Henry François Athanase de Taillefer, historian born there in 1761, distinguished himself by his work on the Gallo-Roman heritage of Périgueux. Today, the castle, registered as a Historical Monument since 1948, offers free or guided tours, with facilities for people with reduced mobility and educational activities for children. A local association, founded in 1996, works for its preservation and enhancement.

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