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Origin and history

The castle of La Salle, located in Pujols-sur-Ciron on the edge of the Ciron (fluent of the Garonne), has its origins before the 13th century, although its current foundations do not date back to the 14th century. The fief was mentioned as early as 1205 when Jean de Staples, Lord of La Salle, received rights from the King of England John without Earth over the course of the Ciron, from Budos to its mouth. He built a wheat mill near a "noble house", the initial nucleus of the future castle. This mill, dated 1207, will later evolve into a sawmill, power plant, and then manufactures bleach (active until the 1970s).

The "noble house" underwent major transformations to become a "little castle" at the end of the 15th century, according to the observations of archaeologist Léo Drouyn. The building then adopts an elongated rectangular plan (barlong), with walls with ogival doors inherited from the fourteenth century. Ruined in 1479, it was rebuilt by Pierre Lézat at the hinge of the 15th and 16th centuries, adopting a typical regional model: a main house flanked by a polygonal tower housing a spiral staircase. A south-west door, integrated with a adjoining pavilion, and two wings (one from the 16th-17th century, the other from the 19th century) complete the whole.

The castle, owned by the Williams family from 1820 to 1967, was restored in the 19th century after the destruction of its defensive elements. Ranked a historical monument in 1988 for its facades, roofs (outside the southeast wing) and a stone fireplace, it illustrates the evolution of a medieval strong house in seigneurial residence. Its dependencies, including the mill, bear witness to the economic activities related to the Ciron, from milling to the chemical industry. The building thus combines feudal heritage, Renaissance adaptations and traces of local industrial modernization.

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