Clermont Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Clermont Castle is located in the commune of Chirens, in the Isère department, on the summit of the Clermont hill (637 metres above sea level), 1.5 km west of the village centre. A castle mound (motte castrale) in the 11th century, it received a stone tower in the 12th century, then underwent a major reconstruction in the 13th century with an irregular pentagonal keep surrounded by a triple concentric enceinte. The seat of the Clermont family, it is mentioned as early as 1107 at the partition of the county of Sermorens, and became the administrative centre of the mandement of Chirens. Its lords paid homage to the Bishop of Vienne from 1203, then to the Dauphin from 1317, when the lordship was raised to a barony. In 1547, Antoine III de Clermont received the title of count from King Henry II. Dismantled in 1626, only the pentagonal keep survives today, owned by the Clermont-Tonnerre family.