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Origin and history

The château de Saint-Chameaux, sometimes called château de Saint-Amancet, is a monument located in the Tarn in Occitanie. Attested as early as the 14th century, it would have been commissioned by Sicard de Roquefort, with two possible dates advanced: 1311 or 1321, the latter being engraved on a lintel today disappeared. At that time, the seigneury and parish of Saint-Chameaux were attached to the diocese of Lavaur, created in 1318.

The castle remained in the Roquefort family for almost two centuries, before passing into the hands of the families of Villespassans in the 16th century, then of Faure in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1768, the estate extended with a mill, tile and six farmhouses, properties of Rose de Couderc of Turin, widow of Claude de Faure. On the eve of the French Revolution, in 1789, the castle belonged to François de Faure de Villespassans, who, although suspected, did not leave France and kept his home.

In the 19th century, the castle was restored by members of Faure's family. It became a notable historic site when Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espérey died there on 8 July 1942, before being buried in the Invalides. The architecture of the castle consists of a body of quadrangular houses flanked by four towers, two of which are round and two rectangular, reflecting its evolution throughout the centuries.

Among the outbuildings of the castle, the lower mill, cited in 1768, used the waters of the Aravis and was rebuilt in 1849. He ceased his activity in 1914 and became a farm, then a dwelling. This mill, composed of two buildings and a diversion bay now transformed into a swimming pool, illustrates the economic importance of the estate over the centuries.

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