Château de la Valade

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de la Valade stands at the locality of La Valade, in Bourdeilles (Dordogne). The site was formerly part of the parish of Lisle and was attached to Bourdeilles during the Revolution. A noble stronghold by the end of the fifteenth century, it passed successively to the Gentil, Cruveiller and Lentilhac families, then was enlarged in 1760, when the estate covered 600 hectares. During the Revolution, Henri-Antoine Gentil de la Valade sold it to Germain-François Dufaure de Rochefort. An agricultural college was established there from 1851 to 1884. The main building, of dressed stone and rendered limestone rubble, has a square first floor and an attic storey, flanked by two circular towers, one of which may contain a spiral staircase whose base could date back to the late sixteenth century. It is covered by a hipped roof with a broken profile. A gateway links it to a second dwelling dated 1768; a barn-stable retains a fireplace from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, and a circular dovecote stands to the south-east.