Roquessels Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Set on a spur of white quartzite rising to 285 metres, the castle site of Roquessels overlooks the Biterrois plain from the foothills of the Avant-Monts. Held by the de Faugères family, it first appears in 1083, when its church of Sainte-Marie was given to the priory of Cassan; a new barrel-vaulted church, which became the parish church, was built in the first half of the 12th century. In the 13th and 14th centuries, two towers strengthened the defences. The lords succeeded one another, from Pierre de Lisle in 1221 to Annibal de Landes de Saint-Palais in 1667; during the Wars of Religion, the castle belonged to the Protestant Claude de Narbonne-Caylus, and it was probably dismantled afterwards. In the 19th century, the ruins served as a quarry, and stones from the keep were reused in the town hall. Only the chapelle Notre-Dame, restored and listed as a historic monument in 1991, remains almost intact, one of its towers serving as a belfry. The site, which is open to the public, is the subject of a project to secure and enhance it.