Château de Pommiers en Gironde

Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Pommiers, located at the end of the municipalities of Vérac and Villegouge en Gironde, finds its origins on a Gallo-Roman site. In 1740 and 1776, excavations revealed the remains of a Roman villa, including tombs, weapons, medals (including one by Emperor Antonin) and thick foundations mixed with bricks. These findings attest to an ancient occupation on this limestone promontory near a source.

In the Middle Ages, the lords of Pommiers built a gascon-style castle on the ruins of the Roman villa, becoming the seat of a sirerie with high and low rights of justice. In the 12th century, they already dominated the parish of Vérac. The castle, enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries, was surrounded by ditches and a vast enclosure. The family of Pommiers, allied with the Viscounts of Fronsac, played a diplomatic and military role, notably under Guillaume-Sanche III (1315–1367), who married Jeanne de Fronsac and served the king of England.

The seigneury passed to the Achards in the 14th century by the marriage of Livie de Pommiers with Louis Achard, who received in dowry the castle and Vérac. The Achard family kept the place until the 18th century, despite conflicts such as the death of Jacques Achard at Orléans headquarters (1429). The estate, including vineyards and land, produced 60 to 80 tons of wine annually. Jean-Antoine de Brons, the last lord before the Revolution, transformed the fortress into an elegant residence (gardens with the French, park), before the castle was sequestered in 1792 and then bought in 1815.

Today's architecture combines medieval remains (feudal motte, wall bases, integrated dungeon) with an 18th century rectangular structure, partially destroyed by fire in the 20th century. The Castral chapel, dedicated to Notre-Dame, was built at the end of the 20th century in ancient communes. The estate also included farms, ponds and underground quarries, now partly disappeared or in ruins.

Successive families (Pommeliers, Achard, Fronsac, Brons) marked the history of the place with alliances and inheritances. The seigneury extinguished with the sale of the castle after the extinction of the Brons. Local excavations and archives (Guinodie, Société archéologique de Bordeaux) document its evolution, from its ancient origins to its wine and residential role under the Ancien Régime.

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