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Origin and history

The castle of Dorches, built at the beginning of the 12th century, was the center of a seigneury and then a castle. Its ruins, located on the commune of Chanay (Ain), overlook the waterfall of the Dorches, on a rocky spur. The site, occupied from the 11th to the 14th century, included a quadrangular dungeon, a bassyard and a round tower, according to the excavations of the 20th century. It was a strategic point on the old road from Châtillon-en-Michail to Seyssel, to a league of the latter.

The seigneury originally belonged to Guillaume du Balmey, founder of the Chartreuse de Meyriat in 1116. His descendants, named Dorches, kept it until 1280. In that year, Marguerite de Dorches, the last heir, sold half of the land to Martin de Châtillon, who acquired the rest from the heirs of Jacques de Dorches. The seigneury thus passed to the Châtillons, then, by successive sales (1532–39), to Georges de Vignod, seigneur of Bognes.

The Vignod retained Dorches until the 18th century, with figures such as Galois de Vignod, who in 1584 received the infeodation of the high, medium and low justices of the Duke of Savoie. The castle, linked to navigation on the Rhône and Savoyard rivalry, declined after the 14th century. Its ruins, classified as historical monuments in 1927, bear witness to its military and seigneurial role between the Rhône, Dorches and Verseronce.

Architecturally, the castle consisted of a dungeon pierced with murderers, in a regular apparatus, preceded by a bassyard and a round tower. A peppermaker (turn in corbellation) reinforced his defense. The site, disused after the 14th century, was searched in the 20th century, revealing a continuous occupation from the 11th to the 14th century. Today, it offers an emblematic vestige of the medieval heritage of Ain.

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