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Origin and history

The Château de la Balme de l'Hermitage, also known as château de l'Hermitage, is an ancient castle built in the 14th century on the slopes of the Nero, in the massif of the Chartreuse. Located close to a prehistoric cave having delivered remains of the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age, it was gradually abandoned by its owners to another castle on the plain. Its name comes from its transformation into an Augustinian convent in the 17th century, marking the neighbouring hamlet.

The Ermitage Cave, called the local patois balm, is a natural porch dug into the Nero cliff. Occupied from the Chalcolithic (flecks in flint), it was also frequented at the Bronze Age and the Tene. This cavity gave its name to the nearby castle, then to the convent of the Hermits of Saint-Augustin installed on site in the seventeenth century, before becoming a villa in the nineteenth century.

In 1768 Jean-Jacques Rousseau visited the convent during a hike from Grenoble, crossing the vineyards of Saint-Martin-le-Vinoux. Sold as a national property in 1791, the estate was acquired by lawyer Antoine Bourne, then transformed into a villa by Pierre Guttin in 1880. A ramp to the cave was built, but a fire completely destroyed the site in 1932, leaving only ruins.

Today, the site is reaching through a steep path from the hamlet of the Hermitage. The remains, dominated by the cave, offer a view of the Isère valley. The historic road, passing through Narbonne and the Clémencières pass, leads to this historic place, witness to prehistoric, medieval and modern occupations.

The 1932 fire, reported by Le Petit Dauphinois, marked the definitive end of the castle-villa. The modernization work undertaken by Fernand Berthe, a delegate at the Touring Club de France, was nullified. Since then, the site has never been rebuilt, preserving its character of romantic ruin backed by the mountain.

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