Montmeyran Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

At Montmeyran, in the Valence plain, the feudal castle overlooked the former village perched on the Coteau, the serre du Meyran, a molasse hill north-east of the present-day town. Montmeyran belonged to the patrimony of the counts of Valentinois. In 1217, during the Albigensian Crusade, Simon de Montfort captured and destroyed the castle. The lordship was granted as a fief in 1416 to the Clermont-Montoison family, then sold in 1543 with a right of redemption to the Conches family; by marriage it passed to the Balbes de Berton de Crillon in 1660, before being sold in 1780 to the Starot de Saint-Germain family, the last lords. After the Wars of Religion, the inhabitants gradually left the village on the hilltop to settle in the plain, reusing stone from the ramparts. Today only a section of keep about three metres high and a well at the top of the hill remain. The village enclosure, about 750 metres long, had at least five towers: three survive in ruins, the Levant, Couchant and Midi towers, the last known as the Colombier. The site offers a panoramic view over the plain.