La Vigne Castle

La Vigne Castle, locally known as Château de La Vigne, lies north of the village of Escorailles, in the Cantal department in France.

The present castle is actually the 3rd successor of a castle in this vicinity. The first one was a Merovingian castrum from the 8th century which was situated on a rocky outcrop, overlooking the valley of the Auze, just a couple of hundred meters away. At the start of the 11th century that 'castle' was abandoned and a new castle was built on a height above the former castrum. That new castle was Escorailles Castle. It was the home of the Scorailles family and a village quickly grew around it.

By the end of the Hundred Years' War, in the mid-15th century, Escorailles Castle had become dilapidated and was slowly falling to ruin. The Scorailles family had grown in importance during the centuries, so Marquès de Scorailles decided to build a new, more decent castle for his family. He then built La Vigne Castle 300 meters to the north of Escorailles, on the site of an old vineyard, between 1470 and 1485.

La Vigne stayed in the hand of the Scorailles until 1743 when it passed to Bertrand d'Humières through his marriage with Anne-Charlotte de Scorailles. In 1767 the writer/philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau stayed in the castle as guest for 3 months. Having survived the French Revolution unscathed, the castle passed to Jean-Baptiste de La Tour de La Placette through marriage in 1811.

In 1899 the castle was sold for the first time. Several sales followed during the 20th century until it was acquired by the Fayet de La Tour in 1950. They still own the castle to this day.

At present La Vigne Castle can be visited for a fee, only with a guide and photography of the castle's interior is not allowed. A nice rural castle. Escorailles Castle is nearby.

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