Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Château de la Tour-Blanche, located in the Dordogne department in New Aquitaine, is a 12th century medieval vestige. It stands on a castral motte, probably replacing an ancient wooden fort. The current ruins include a large square white stone tower, a courting wall and a secondary tower, once surrounded by a large ditch fed by the Buffebale. A drawbridge, now disappeared, connected the castle to the village.

The main tower, called dungeon, is wrapped in flat buttresses pierced by Gothic bays, linked by archatures evoking a religious architectural repertoire. The mâchicoulis, rebuilt in the early 20th century, probably date back to the 15th century. Inside the moth, vaulted cellars with silos attest to its use for grain conservation. The castle was rebuilt in the Renaissance and 17th century before being partially destroyed and replaced by a bourgeois residence in the 19th century.

The site was mentioned in the 13th century under the name Castri de Turre, then Turris alba in 1382. The family of the Tower, powerful in the 12th and 13th centuries, counted Adhémar de la Tour, attested in 1190 and became bishop of Périgueux. In 1350, the castle was besieged by the English, then taken over by Du Guesclin in 1356. Acquired by the Bourdeille family around 1370, he became a barony until the Revolution. In 1569 and 1652, the wars of Religion and the Fronde severely damaged the castle.

Confiscated as a national property in 1794, the castle was sold to local inhabitants. Threatened by demolition in 1906, its classification to historical monuments that same year allowed for urgent restoration by architects Rapine (1907) and Dennery (1909). A fire in 1970 destroyed the interior of the tower, and another in 2015 ravaged the south wing, causing one death. The ruins have been classified since November 20, 1906.

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