Château de Lamothe dans le Lot-et-Garonne

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Origin and history

The castle of Lamothe, located in Villeneuve-sur-Lot in the department of Lot-et-Garonne, was built at the end of the eighteenth century on the initiative of Jean-Joseph de Fumel, Marquis de Fumel-Monségur. The plans are attributed to architect Victor Louis, known for his neoclassical achievements. The castle, offered to his wife Marie-Anne d'Abzac in 1787 as indicated by the inscription on the pediment, was never completed due to the French Revolution. The construction, begun in 1780, stopped abruptly, leaving a rectangular building with a central forebody and arched windows.

In the 19th century, the castle was divided among several owners, losing its original unit. In 1912, Georges Leygues, a politician, acquired the estate and restored his park. During the First World War, the castle served as a military hospital, then between 1937 and 1940, it welcomed Spanish children fleeing the civil war. The estate then passed by inheritance to the Raphaël-Leygues family. At the entrance of the park remains a feudal motte, vestige of an old monitoring tower of the Lot, now surmounted by a dovecote.

Lamothe Castle was listed as a historical monument on 19 March 1971. Its architecture, combining neoclassical elegance and traces of a medieval past, makes it a unique testimony to local history. The site, marked by various uses (aristocratic residence, place of care, refuge), illustrates the social and political upheavals of the region since the 18th century.

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