Lespinasse Keep

The Lespinasse Keep, locally known as Donjon de Lespinasse, stands near the village of Saint‑Forgeux‑Lespinasse in the Loire department in France.

The keep dates from the 12th century and was likely built on the site of an earlier Gallo-Roman camp. It formed part of a medieval castle that guarded the confluence of the Teyssonne with local streams. That castle was destroyed in an overnight fire in 1590, and today the keep remains the sole visible remnant.

The tower rises approximately 17 m high, with walls around 1.5 m thick at the base. The first-floor and ground-level openings were modified in later periods, possibly between the 15th and 17th centuries, and a vaulted ceiling, dating from around 1885, collapsed around 1891.

Although the château’s Renaissance mansion from the 16th century and a 17th-century farm once stood nearby, the keep is the only structure still standing. 

The Lespinasse Keep is situated in a private field used as a cow pasture and can therefore not be visited. A very nice keep, of a similar design to the keep of Roanne Castle.

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