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Origin and history

The Segadenes Mountain Tower is a 13th century medieval building located in Soturac (Lot, Occitanie), on the banks of the Thèze. This monument, which was listed as a historical monument in 2013, presents itself as an imposing square tower house (12.70 x 13.20 m), with thick walls of more than a metre. It combines the functions of noble den and mill, as evidenced by its archères and geminied bays carved from the late 13th century. The tower, equipped with a structural staircase and a arch with a cross-walled arch decorated with grimacating muffles, illustrates the defensive and seigneurial architecture of the period.

The first documents mentioning the site date from the 15th century, although its construction dates back to the previous century. A hypothesis binds his foundation to Peter Duèze, brother of Pope John XXII, because of the name Frésapa worn by a nearby mill – a toponym associated with Jeanne Frésapa, wife of Pierre Duèze. The first attested occupants are the Jas (or d-Ajas), a family of Pyrenean blacksmiths settled after the Hundred Years' War. They set up an iron mill (forge), then exploited by their descendants, including Pierre du Rieu, lord of Ségadenes at the beginning of the seventeenth century and gentleman of the king.

The tower, slightly remodeled, retains remarkable medieval elements: gargoyles under corbellation, monumental fireplace, and period panelling. The naturalistic windows and cruciform archeries suggest a construction of the last third of the 13th century. Subsequent developments (XVth–XIXth centuries) changed the internal distribution, including the addition of a high-density roof and a new pavilion roof around 1910. The site, surrounded by a water ditch, remains a rare example in the Lot of this type of hybrid architecture, both seigneurial, defensive and industrial (moulin and forge).

In the seventeenth century, the seigneury passed to the Rieu (Durieu), then to the Briançon de La Montelle in the eighteenth century. Marie de Jas, heir of the estate, married John III of the Rieu in 1589, whose descendants preserved Ségadenes until at least the seventeenth century. The fief is still mentioned on the map of Cassini (18th century). Today, the Mountain Tower, with its parcel and ditch, is protected for its heritage interest and exceptional conservation status.

Historical sources point to its role in the local economy (grain mill and forge) and its status as a noble den, without a marked military vocation. The studies of Gilles Séraphin (The feudal towers of Quercy, 2006) and Catherine Didon (Châteaux, manoirs et logis : le Lot, 1996) document its architecture and seigneurial history, while the graffiti of the tower of Bonaguil indirectly evoke its occupation by the Jas.

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