Logo Musée du Patrimoine

All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

Château de la Barbazanié dans le Tarn

Tarn

Château de la Barbazanié

    280 Barbazanie
    81260 Fontrieu
Photographies Labouche Frères

Timeline

Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
1700
1800
1900
2000
1685
First written entry
1906-1914
Property Monnerot-Dumaine
1924
Aborted sanatorium project
fin XVIIIe - début XIXe siècle
Construction of the castle
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Key figures

Jean Guy - Protestant judge First resident mentioned in 1685.
Famille Corbière de Valès - Manufacturers and owners Local nobility in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Ernest de Valès - Owner and notable Living until the 1880s.
Madame Monnerot-Dumaine - Owner (1906-1914) Offer a parking lot.

Origin and history

The Château de la Barbazanié found its first traces written in 1685, when the Protestant judge Jean Guy, residing in the said place, abjured his faith. A second mention appeared in 1764, linked to the death of Monsieur de Belfortès, the potential lord of the place, in an act of debt recovery. These documents attest to an old occupation, although the present castle does not yet exist.

The building of the castle took place at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, under the impetus of the Corbière de Valès family, a local nobility native to the hamlet of Valès (Le Bez). A letter from 1858 confirmed their aristocratic lineage. The maritime writer Edward Corbière, a 19th-century literary figure, is one of their descendants. The family, including Ernest de Valès (1837–?), occupied the area until the 1880s, as evidenced by the departmental archives.

In the 20th century, the castle changed hands: Madame Monnerot-Dumaine, born in Pistoye, owned it from 1906 to 1914. In 1906, she proposed to give way to a train stop on the Castres-Murat line, a project finally abandoned. In 1924, the Tarn prefecture planned to install a sanatorium for TB women, but the sale to a local industrialist sealed its private destiny.

Architecturally, the castle is distinguished by its rectangular plan with 11 spans and 3 floors, framed by two square towers with roofs in the pavilion. The main façade features a triangular forebody and two superimposed balconies. The estate, including an adjoining house and agricultural outbuildings (1911), was recently renovated with a swimming pool and ornamental gardens.

External links