Timeline

Key figures

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.

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