Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Lamothe, located in Villeneuve-sur-Lot in the department of Lot-et-Garonne, was built at the end of the 18th century for Jean-Joseph de Fumel, Marquis de Fumel-Monségur and Baron de Montaigu. The plans are attributed to the Bordeaux architect Victor Louis. The Marquis offered this castle to his wife, Marie-Anne d'Abzac, as indicated by the inscription "1787, the Marquis de Fumel-Montaigu and Marie-Anne d'Abzac his wife" on the pediment. Construction, begun in 1780, was interrupted by the French Revolution, leaving the building unfinished.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the estate was divided among several owners. In 1912 Georges Leygues, deputy for Villeneuve-sur-Lot, acquired the castle and restored his park. During the First World War, the building served as a military hospital. Between 1937 and 1940, it was transformed into a shelter for Spanish refugee children. The estate then passed by inheritance to the Raphaël-Leygues family.

The castle has a rectangular architecture with a central forebody with triangular pediment, framed with two lateral wings. The park, equipped with plane aisles and a circular basin, preserves the remains of a medieval feudal motte, surmounted by a dovecote. This site, partially classified as a Historic Monument since 1971, illustrates the architectural and social transformations of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Originally, a medieval tower controlled the passage on the Lot, as illustrated by a 16th century drawing. The current dovecote, dating from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, rests on stone piles. The castle, conceived as an aristocratic residence, also reflects the military and humanitarian uses that marked its later history.

External links