Saint-Bernard Castle

History

Originally owned by the Palatines of Riottiers, the castle existed by the early 13th century. William Palatine sold it in 1250 to Guichard V, Lord of Beaujeu, who sold it with all dependencies to the Church of Lyon for 6,050 livres in May 1264. The castle was taken and pillaged in 1376 by inhabitants of Trévoux and Reyrieux, and again in 1468 by troops led by the lord of Sornas for the Count of Comminges against Philip of Savoy.

The Church of Lyon held the lordship until 1599, when it alienated it to Martin de Covet, lord of Montribloud, whose descendants still possessed it in 1801. Acquired in 1801 by Quirin-Henri de Cazenove, it was sold in 1808 to Daniel Bellet de Tavernost, then passed through inheritance to Louise-Augustine, wife of Gabriel Bourlier, Baron d'Ailly, and later to their daughter Marie-Thérèse, wife of Count Jules de Murat de Lestang. In 1917 Antoine Goujot-Pontet d'Amplepuis bought it, selling in 1923 to painters André Utter and Suzanne Valadon; their son Maurice Utrillo depicted the castle, church, and village restaurant, and kept it until 1948.

Description

The old castle, from the late 13th or early 14th century, was remodeled in the 17th and restored in the 19th. In 1873 it was enclosed by walls and ditches, with two gates; one arch still exists, the other is ruined. In the 21st century it appears as a rectangular enclosure with two round corner towers on one short side and a tall main building on the opposite side, formerly crowned by a corbelled parapet walk. A square gate tower opens in the middle of one long side.