Castle of the Barns
The castle of the Barns is a medieval castle with Escurolles (Allier).
It was built surroundings 1468 by Durand Fradet, rider of the king Louis XI. The buildings included/understood at the time a gate with drawbridge, a gallery of shooting, a principal building of two stages of which the upper floor had a defensive use, and a second house, bound by an interior turn to the principal house. In the square of 50 m by 50 m there were probably some cattle sheds and barns. The defensive unit had four turns (of which remain three in this moment), of the ditches which surrounded the castle, of the loopholes and other means of defense. Probably in the 17th century one definitively left the strategy of defense, when one built a barn which crossed the ditches.
The great-grandson of the manufacturer, Gilbert Fradet, sold the castle with Charles de Capony in 1586. In the centuries which follow, the castle will know several owners. During the French revolution the owner François de Resclene will finish his days under the Guillotine, being “enemy Revolution” (1794). In 1980 the current owners of the castle will install there a Menuiserie, the Workshop of the Barns. The current building always has medieval characteristics, in spite of attempts at the time of the French revolution “to modernize it”. The loopholes are always there, like (partially) the ditches. The main door survived the capacity of destruction of the French revolution. The big room of reception always exists.