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Origin and history

The château de Grugnac, located in the Lot en Occitanie, finds its origins in a fief mentioned in 1334 in a tribute paid to the Viscount de Turenne by Bertrand de Narbonnès. A chapel already existed on the site in the 12th century, but the first mention of a "noble house" appeared only in 1643, during a tribute given by Amalric de Massip, lord of Grugnac and La Boisse. The fief, including seigneurial justice, was sold in 1593 by Jean de Narbonnès to Pierre Massip, notary at Souceyrac, before passing into the hands of the Scribe family in the 17th century.

The current construction, with a quadrangular plan flanked by three round towers and crowned with mâchicoulis, dates mainly from the 15th century, although architectural elements (such as the entrance door or windows) suggest alterations in the 16th and 17th centuries. The castle was looted during the Revolution as part of peasant revolts against feudal symbols. In 1790, Louis de Verdal de Lestang, heir to the Scribe, was appointed to the Historical Monuments in 1989 for his facades and roofs.

The site was originally a fortress built by the Viscounts of Turenne to monitor the area, including the falconry of the Duke of Luynes. Its monumental staircase, its lauze roof and its rooms distributed over two floors (kitchen on the ground floor, living room upstairs) reflect both its defensive and residential role. A surviving tower, a vestige of a disappeared enclosure, bears witness to its medieval organization. The archives also mention its occupation by local bourgeois families, such as the Scribe, who inhabited and transformed it until the 19th century.

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