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Origin and history

The Labio Pigeonary Tower (or Tower of Picatal), located at Labio in the commune of Gourdon (Lot, Occitanie), is a medieval sandstone building dating from the first half of the 14th century. Its three-storey square structure, surmounted by a pavilion roof, is distinguished by gelatinous bays and cruciform archers, as well as an anti-ronge strip separating the lower levels from the upper part, originally designed to house pigeons. Originally a place of residence on two levels, the tower also played a role in controlling the Marcillande against poaching. Its historical name, La Ricardie, evokes a connection with the family of Ricard (or Genouillac), related to the lords of Gourdon and mentioned in 1241 for cathar sympathies.

The building, inscribed in the Historical Monuments since February 28, 2012, features remarkable architectural elements: a door covered with a broken arch, salient latrines, and bolt holes lining the upper part for pigeons. The interior elevations preserve niches, closets, and traces coated with graffiti (ECU and horsemen), suggesting an aristocratic or bourgeois occupation. The precise dating, between the late 13th and early 14th centuries, is based on the shape of windows (trilobies, networks) and archeries. The tower, isolated in a valley, was one of dozens of peripheral bories at Gourdon, held by bourgeois lines close to the nobility.

The documentary history of the tower remains fragmentary. The name Labio (attested to in the 15th century) refers to a tenor, replacing the former name borie de Lasvals, itself succeeding La Ricardie. This last name, associated with the family of Ricard, could indicate a construction linked to this lineage, involved in the religious tensions of the thirteenth century (Cathar sympathies) before their return to Gourdon under Pope John XXII (original of Cahors). Although the tower may have been used as a guard tower, its arches do not seem purely defensive, and its main use remains residential and agricultural (pigeon). Today, its exceptional state of conservation makes it a rare testimony of medieval rural architecture in Quercy.

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