Château de Montpeyroux

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Montpeyroux was the residence of the lords of this village in the Lodévois, at the foot of the Larzac foothills on the former road linking Montpellier and Rodez. Distinct from the Castellas perched on the hill, a medieval enceinte protected in 2025 and covered in a separate entry, it was surrounded by farm outbuildings: stables, an oil mill, a wine press and a cellar, evidence of a seigneury that lived from the vine, the olive tree and the rights over the marketing of oil. At the end of the Ancien Régime, the estate belonged to the d'Axat family, which had acquired it through a marriage alliance with the Grégoire des Gardès de Montpeyroux; the last lady, widow of Marquis Marc-Antoine d'Axat, who died in 1788, lived in Montpellier. On 26 June 1791, a few hours after the news of the king's arrest at Varennes, a crowd coming from the cantonal assembly invaded the château, burned the furniture in the courtyard and carried off wine, oil, grain and fodder; the looting resumed the following day. Of the ruined building, only a corner tower survives, which the historian Claude Alberge presents as its last remnant, with the Castellas in the background.