Château de Tardes: A Converted Medieval Fortified House in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
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- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- French
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Château de Tardes, also known as Maison de Tardes, is a converted medieval fortified house in Saint-Macaire, France. Built around the thirteenth or fourteenth century, it occupied a defensive position within the old town and later became a private mansion incorporating Renaissance-inspired features.
Medieval origins and family ownership
The original building was a five-level fortified house. From the fourteenth century until the middle of the fifteenth century, the noble house of Tardes belonged to the d’Arros, or de Ros, family, before passing to the Achard family. A Tardes family is recorded at Saint-Macaire between 1407 and 1574. In 1562, Louis de Tardes joined the Protestants when Saint-Macaire was taken by Symphorien de Durfort, Viscount of Duras.
In 1593, Étienne Achard, an esquire, sold the house and its dependencies to Asdrubal de Ferron. Several lords of Ferron later served as captains of the château. The building was also known as the Maison de Carbonnieux in 1637.
Demolition of the keep
By 1627, the fortress had become unnecessary and placed a heavy financial burden on the town’s jurats, the municipal governing officials. They were required to maintain a guard of twenty to twenty-five men. At the request of the population, and following advice from the Duke of Épernon and instructions associated with Cardinal Richelieu, the keep was demolished. The work took place in stages, in 1747 and again in 1837.
From ruins to private mansion
In 1690, Charles-Asdrubal and Jean de Ferron, lord of Carbonnieux, transferred the Maison de Tardes to Louis de Léglise. The château was then in ruins, and Dominique Faye purchased it in 1818. During the nineteenth century, it was converted into a private mansion in a Renaissance style, with new architectural elements including divided stone windows and a hexagonal tower inspired by medieval and Renaissance forms.
Château de Tardes is now owned by the commune of Saint-Macaire. Its tower and courtyard well received historic-monument protection by order on 21 October 1997. The property is also listed in the French Ministry of Culture’s Mérimée architectural-heritage database under reference PA00083893.
Remains
Château de Tardes stands at the elevated southwestern corner of Saint-Macaire’s old town, on rue du Port Nava, overlooking the Garonne. The surviving complex combines the later mansion with the remains and altered fabric of the former fortified house. Its original defensive core was a quadrangular keep measuring 20 by 25 metres, with walls approximately 3 metres thick.
Medieval fortified house
The medieval building rose through five levels and was organized around a substantial quadrangular keep. Because the keep was demolished in stages, it does not survive as a complete medieval structure. Its former scale and heavy wall construction nevertheless define the early form of the site and distinguish it from the later domestic building.
Nineteenth-century mansion and courtyard
The converted mansion incorporates mullioned windows, each divided into separate sections by vertical stone or masonry members, and a hexagonal tower containing a spiral staircase that winds around a central axis. An inner courtyard contains a well. Together, these surviving elements belong to the later architectural fabric that reshaped the former fortress as a private residence.
