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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The house of La Barre, also called Château de la Barre, is located in the commune of Villejoubert, in Charente, 16 km north of Angoulême. His story began in 1487, the first mention of the fief in a count of Jean Triquot, squire and seigneur of La Barre, vassal of the seigneur of Montignac. The building of the castle, located near a source and close to the ancient castrum d'Andone, is attributed to Jean Triquot or his son-in-law Antoine Horric at the beginning of the sixteenth century. The Horric family, a Protestant, retained the estate until the end of the 17th century, as evidenced by its weapons engraved on a tower.

In 1771, the house passed by inheritance to the family Duboys de la Bernarde, after a probable sale to François Gourdin in the previous century. During the Revolution, Louis Robert Duboys de La Barre, considered an emigrant, saw the estate confiscated and sold in 1796 to Pierre Dubois, departmental administrator and cousin of the owners. He kept his promise of surrender by selling the house to Louis Robert in 1803. The Duboys family owned it until 1990, when the house, its towers, dovecote and its fortified remains were listed as historical monuments.

Architecturally, the house organizes around a triangular courtyard, with a body of rectangular houses flanked by round and square towers (XVIth century), one of which contains a spiral staircase. The octagonal dovecote, rare in Charente, and the remains of an older circular leak complete the whole. In the east, a terrace with garden and swimming pool dominates the site, always private and not open to the public. The interiors preserve medieval chimneys and 18th-century woodwork, reflecting successive changes in the building.

The house illustrates the evolution of a Protestant seigneury in Charente, marked by family alliances and architectural adaptations between Renaissance and modern times. Its registration in 1990 underscores the heritage value of its defensive elements (mâchicoulis, niches) and its spatial organization, typical of the rural noble homes of the region.

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