Château de Montaigut, Gissac, France

The first traces of the Château de Montaigut date from the 10th century. Built on a rocky outcrop dominating the valley of the Dourdou de Camarès river, it defended the town of Saint-Affrique against attacks from the south. Enlarged and transformed in the 15th century by the Blanc family, it was restored several times before falling into ruin. The castle was finally restored in 1989.

The castle is built over a medieval necropolis. The castle has beautiful vaulted rooms served by a spiral staircase, a cellar, a cistern carved in the rock, a guard room and prison, bedrooms and kitchens. Visitors can admire 17th century plasterworks.

Today, the castle has become a permanent centre for cultural events. The Château de Montaigut is one of a group of 23 castles in Aveyron which have joined together to provide a tourist itinerary as the Route des Seigneurs du Rouergue.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

kiwimédia Bubu (12 months ago)
Nice place. Beautiful panorama on the rougier. A small village of yesteryear in its own juice with everything in place, such as machines, habitat is to be seen during the visit of the castle. The castle is superb, well renovated. Discover the atmosphere of the lords. A short day is necessary if we want to enjoy.

João Carlos Belém Domingues (2 years ago)
Very 'ice views. The castle was closed. Could not visit.

Bruno Berthier (2 years ago)
More than a castle to visit! A small ecomuseum is also to discover.

marion Venturini (2 years ago)
Great! Reconstitutions in all the rooms / houses that give life to the place. A little game for children to keep them busy. We had a great time!

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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