Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Pierrefitte, located 2.8 km east of Sarroux in Corrèze, was originally built in the 13th century as a defensive fortress to control access to Bort-les-Orgues, then the major shopping centre of the region. Its name, meaning fiche stone, evokes a topographic origin linked to local reliefs. In 1370, Dauphine de Lestrange and Roger-Hugues de Bort, from noble limo families, restored an old nearby fortress and gave it the name of Pierrefitte, with reference to Dauphine's prerogative. This site becomes the main residence of the Bort lineage, an influential chivalry family that participated in the Crusades and linked to the Templars.

In the middle of the 15th century, Charles de Bort, gentleman of the Chamber of Charles VIII, ordered the complete reconstruction of the castle between 1471 and 1478, after the old structure threatened to ruin. The works, led by master masons Robert Rigal and Pierre Bahut, include solid foundations, white iron roofs for towers, and a house body covered with shale. The timber, cut in the local forest, bears witness to a methodical construction, with a two-year break to allow settlement. This castle, symbol of the power of the Borts, incorporates defensive and residential elements adapted to the time.

During the French Revolution, the owner Léonard-Antoine de Bort was imprisoned in Ussel in 1793, while revolutionaries tried to demolish the castle. Its architectural strength, including its thick walls, limits damage to fragile superstructures. After more than 300 years of possession by the Borts, the estate was sold in 1822 to Antoine Delamas, then bought in 1830 by Éléonore de Bailleul, wife of Henri-Louis de Tournemire. The latter, a descendant of a noble Auvergne family allied with the Borts, undertook major repairs: slate cover, equalization of towers, and addition of tiles peppers. The castle was finally listed as a Historic Monument in 1927.

During the Second World War, in June 1944, the castle housed a maquis before being invested by the SS Das Reich division. Guillaume de Tournemire, owner and naval officer, negotiates with a German officer to save the estate in exchange for the destruction of a barn sheltering weapons. His historical account of the Bort and Tournemire families convinced the officer to renounce the execution of the inhabitants. Today, the castle remains a private property, still owned by the descendants of the family of Tournemire.

The Borts and Lestranges embody the medieval history of the site. Borts, cross knights and local lords, derive their wealth from the trade in Bort-les-Orgues and their prestigious alliances. The Lestranges, lords in Marche and Limousin, include among their members influential clergymen, such as the brothers of Dauphine: Guillaume (archbishop of Rouen), Elijah (bishop of Puy), and Raoul (legate of Pope Gregory XI). These links with the Church and the nobility shape the prestige of the castle, reflecting the political and social dynamics of the Limousin during the 14th and 15th centuries.

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