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Origin and history

The Château de la Bonnette, located in Senouillac in the Tarn, is built at the end of the 15th or at the beginning of the 16th century as a dependency of the castle of Mauriac. Originally, it could be a simple tower, mentioned as the tower of the Cap in a cadastral plan of 1591-1592. The family of Rabastens, lords of Mauriac, entrusts its custody to the family of del Forn (or Fronte), who becomes its owner. Pierre de Fronte, a local judge, lived there from 1504, followed by his widow Jeanne de Castelnau after his death before 1523. The castle remained in this family until the wars of Religion, during which time he briefly passed into the hands of the Huguenots in 1575, before being taken over by the Catholics.

In 1613, Maffre de Paulo, royal treasurer of Castres County, acquired the castle for 17,000 pounds and undertook major changes. His family, enriched by pastel culture, turned the military building into a comfortable home. The castle remained in their hands until the French Revolution. In the 19th century, under the Ichard family, it became the heart of an agricultural estate, with the addition of stables and a cellar in 1831, while the gardens were rearranged (aisle of chestnut trees, topiary trees, English park).

Architecturally, the castle is organized around a rectangular courtyard, flanked by circular towers and a polygonal tower with a spiral staircase. The eastern façade, the main one, is decorated with a bent pediment and a marteled coat of arms during the Revolution. The court of honour, closed by a wall-bahut and two tower-pigeons, leads to outbuildings ( stables, 40 meters cellar with 19th century presses). The gardens, blending Italian styles (terraces, cut boxwoods) and French style (wooden embroideries), as well as a park with wash and spring, surround the estate, completed later by an alley of cedars and decorative elements like terracotta lions.

The château de la Bonnette illustrates the evolution of a medieval fortress as a seigneurial residence, then as a farm. Its history reflects the religious, political (Religion Wars, Revolution) and economic (pastel, viticulture) upheavals of the region. Today, it preserves the traces of these transformations, from the initial ramparts to the 19th century, through its classified gardens and its wine cellar disused since 1979.

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