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Origin and history

The castle of Saffres, located in Saffres in Côte-d'Or, is an ancient castle whose origins date back to at least the twelfth century. Nestled in a circus surrounded by cliffs, it dominates the main town and is a strategic site, now known for climbing. Its architecture combines defensive elements (round towers, ditches, cannon tree) and traces of successive renovations, especially in the 18th century.

As early as 1189, the family of Saffres, one of the great baronies of the Duchy of Burgundy, marked the history of the place. Known for introducing prunes into the region after the crusades, it was extinguished in the 14th century. The castle then passed into the hands of the Saigny by marriage, then was ceded in 1503 to Othenin de Cléron, who described its fortifications: towers, crenellated walls, ditches and drawbridge. Pillows, renovations and demolitions (like that of the square tower in 1763) mark its history until the Revolution, when the last emigrant owner, Mr. d-Andelot, saw his property confiscated.

In the 19th century, only four buildings remained on a platform surrounded by ditches. Today, the main building, flanked by two round towers of the 12th to 13th centuries and a facade of the 18th century, is being restored. The gorge of the west tower houses a staircase with carved lintels, while the east tower, larger, retains a cannonhole. A north wall, a vestige of missing buildings, recalls the former extent of the building.

The castle now houses the brotherhood of prunes of Viteaux, perpetuating an inheritance linked to the family of Saffres. Nearby, the Hôtel-Dieu de Saffres, a seigneurial foundation until 1696, illustrates the local influence of the seigneurie, before its attachment to the hospital Saint-Nicolas de Viteaux in the eighteenth century.

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