Château des Puits en Saône-et-Loire

Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château des Puits, located in the commune of Gourdon in the heart of the Saône-et-Loire, is the result of the gradual transformation, in the 17th and 18th centuries, of a pre-existing medieval structure. Organized around a rectangular courtyard closed with walls, it consists of a main house in the east, covered with a rumped roof and flanked by two round towers with conical roofs. The north tower houses a spiral staircase serving the floors, while the south tower, marked by an external bandeau, hosts a dovecote in the upper part. The exposed beams ceilings, typically French, adorn all the rooms.

To the north of the courtyard, the "chambers" wing includes a basement and a vaulted ground floor, topped with an additional top. A bell tower with a bay crowns its western gable, adjacent to a chapel today disused. The communes, located to the south, complete the whole, around a central granite well. A garden and a wooded park extend east of the estate, which remains a private property not open to the public.

The fief belongs first to the family of Thesut, before passing to François Raffin de Sermaise and his wife Claudine de Beugre. Their son, Gabriel Raffin de Sermaise, inherited it in 1761. In the 20th century, the castle echoed by family successions to M. J. Gauthier de Bellefond. The coats of arms of the family of Thesut, gold to the strip of Gules loaded with three jumpers, testify to their historical anchoring in the places.

Architecturally, the castle illustrates the evolution of seigneurial residences, mixing medieval heritage and classical adaptations. Its spatial organization, centered on a closed courtyard, reflects the defensive and residential needs of past eras, while its decorative elements (pigeon, chapel, well) evoke daily life and local power symbols.

External links