The Château de Saint Romain is a ruined

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

in the '' commune'' of Siaugues-Sainte-Marie (previously in the former ''commune'' of Siaugues-Saint-Romain and hence the name) in the

Haute-Loire Haute-Loire (; or ''Naut Leir''; English: Upper Loire) is a landlocked department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Named after the Loire River, it is surrounded by the departments of Loire, Ardèche, Lozère, Canta ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of France. The

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

was known in the 13th century as being held by the brother of Saint-Louis IX of France, Alphonse de Poitiers. The castle was protected by an external ''

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin ''incinctus'' "girdled, surrounded") is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the positio ...

'' of which only terraces and two towers at the entry gate remain. Of the inner castle, there are still the

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

, a tower and part of a

staircase tower A staircase tower or stair tower (, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a tower-like wing of a building with a circular or polygonal plan that contains a stairwell, usually a helical staircase. History Only a few examples of staircase ...

which served the residence which was attached to the keep. There are remains of paintings on the second of the keep's four floors. Most of the fortress was constructed in the 14th century. The castle overlooks Siaugues and was intended to repel Angevin forces based to the west on the opposite side of the river

Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...

. The castle changed hands several times, coming into the possession of the La Fayette family in c.1400 under Gilbert Motier de La Fayette. It remained in the family until the French Revolution when it was taken by the commune and used as a quarry. Some preservation work has begun. The castle is privately owned. It has been listed since 1984 as a ''

monument historique () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

References

External links

*
Château de Saint Romain
on the website of the commune, including photos Ruined castles in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Monuments historiques of Haute-Loire Buildings and structures in Haute-Loire {{France-castle-stub

See also

References

External links