La Rochette Castle: A Fortified Medieval Castle in France
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- French, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page6 sections
History
La Rochette Castle is a fortified castle in France, built in the twelfth century on a rocky promontory above La Rochette in Savoie. The site, described as a “little rock,” gave the town its name and helped protect it. Its position allowed surveillance of routes through the Gelon valley, including the Vallée des Huiles and Val Pelouse.
Medieval origins
The first recorded occupant was Hugues de La Rochette, a local lord mentioned in 1153. In 1170, he co-founded the Charterhouse of Saint-Hugon near Arvillard. A charterhouse was a monastery of the Carthusian order, whose religious life combined communal worship with extensive individual solitude.
Sieges and destruction
La Rochette became involved in the wars of the French monarchy during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. On 13 July 1597, Henri IV, king of France from 1589 to 1610, sent François de Bonne de Lesdiguières to besiege La Rochette. Lesdiguières was a French military commander and nobleman who led royal operations in the Dauphiné and neighboring Alpine regions. The town was occupied on 14 July, followed by the castle two days later.
In 1630, Henri IV’s successor, Louis XIII, who reigned from 1610 to 1643, ordered another siege of La Rochette and the destruction of the castle. After the French Revolution and Savoy’s annexation to France in 1792, revolutionary troops occupied the site.
Restoration and later use
Maurice-Philibert Rey acquired the castle in 1842 and restored it. The work included corner sentry turrets, which were still visible in 1877. During the first half of the twentieth century, ownership passed first to the Department of Savoie and then to the municipality of La Rochette. The castle housed a medico-educational institute until 2021, an institution combining education with medical and social care, typically for children or young people with disabilities. It is now owned by the municipality and lies within Valgelon-La Rochette, in the Savoie department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Remains
La Rochette Castle stands on the heights of La Rochette on the right bank of the Gelon, where the river bends northward before turning east again. The surviving remains occupy the rocky position that supported the castle’s defensive purpose and its oversight of routes through the valley.
Fortifications
Part of a round tower survives on the northeast side, representing a fragment of the medieval castle. A ditch follows the southeast, south, and southwest sides. Access is provided by a stone bridge crossing the ditch, and the bridge may occupy the position of an earlier drawbridge. The corner sentry turrets added during the nineteenth-century restoration remain visible. An échauguette is a small projecting turret traditionally used for observation or defense.
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