Having a walk to the castle of Lédenon
Dominating the little town of Lédenon, this castle with its medieval origins dating back to the 12th century has been listed French National Heritage since 1990.
FR - The castle, which was modified until the 18th century, still has a beautiful "rib-vaulted hall with arched doors and archways" and a keep, a reminder of its past as a fortified castle, while a number of different buildings from different eras surround the inner courtyard.
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Did you know? "Part of the walls of the fortified gateway were built using blocks from the Roman aqueduct at Nîmes". (Source POP: the open heritage platform).
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Mentioned for the first time in 1311, its owners included "Raymond Gaucelin, of the Sabran family, lord of part of Uzès, Lédenon and Laugnac", and then, until 1323, Cardinal Bérenger de Frédol. In 1455, Léonard d'Aramon, lord of Lédenon, co-lord of Aramon along with the King of France and, in 1527, "Mathieu de Bargeton de Cabrières, ennobled by Francis I of France, in 1533, as co-lord of Lédenon... François Toussaint de Milani de Cornillon de Romieu, from a robe family, ennobled in 1604, became Baron of Lédenon through his marriage to Marie, maid of Georges de Tarnaut de Lédenon...
The last Baroness of Lédenon was Marie Françoise Blanche, born on 8 September 1751. Disinherited by her father, the fief was bought by Barthélémy Fornier in 1777, ancestor of the current owners, the Seydoux family...
On the facade, "loopholes intersected by crosses as well as geminated windows topped by mullioned windows" were recreated identically on the wall heightened at the end of the 20th century, during a restoration campaign in the 1980s. A cistern and the remains of an oil and wine press are among the other architectural features that remain today"*.
Source: * Damien ORTEGA's book "Lédenon, un village des garrigues nîmoises", published by Editions de la Fenestrelle.