En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de Fontariol, in the commune of Le Theil (Allier), is a Bourbonnais fortified house (maison forte) built around 1450 on the initiative of a nobleman named Vigier; at that time it came under the châtellenie of Verneuil for the administration of justice. Located at an altitude of 450 metres, 3 kilometres north-west of the village, in bocage country, the building belongs to a group of some thirty Bourbonnais defensive structures erected between the mid-15th and the 16th century. Its quadrangular main building (corps de logis) is flanked on the south façade by a semi-projecting, battered round tower housing a spiral staircase and a dovecote, and at the north-west corner by a fully projecting circular tower. The south and east façades retain arrow slits and stone cross-windows. A courtyard surrounded by walls and farm buildings completes the ensemble. In the mid-18th century the château belonged to Marguerite Louan de Fontariol, then, in 1775, to her nephew the Marquis de Tilly, before passing in 1779 to Gilbert de Boucaumont des Garennes. Entered in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments in 1989 and then classified as a historic monument on 10 February 2010 (Mérimée reference PA00093312), it has belonged since 2018 to Christian and Carole Milla, who are continuing its restoration.
