Château de la Grande Filolie, Medieval castle in Saint-Amand-de-Coly, France.
The Château de la Grande Filolie is a castle built between the 15th and 17th centuries, with pale grey-beige walls and steep dark grey slate roofs. Its oldest part is the small L-shaped north-east building; the large west wing, built over a vaulted cellar used as a wine vat room, is flanked by two square towers and topped by machicolations with gun ports. The entrance passage carries a brattice, and the chapel of Sainte-Marie de la Conception follows it.
Built between the 15th and 17th centuries, the castle was probably begun by Antoine de Beaulieu, recorded as seigneur de la Filolie in 1536. It passed to the Gaubert family, then to the Beauroyre family before the Revolution; an inventory after the death of Dominique de Beauroyre in 1792 shows most of it used for farming. The east wing, holding the outbuildings, was demolished after 1892.
The name comes from an old oil mill on the stream; eleven sites called "La Filolie" existed in the Dordogne in 1873. The castle belonged to the Beaulieu family of Montignac, and in the early 17th century Jean de Beaulieu married Hipolite Angèle de Salignac Fénelon, sister of Fénelon. The chapel is dedicated to Sainte-Marie de la Conception.
The castle is private and not open to visitors; it stands southwest of Saint-Amand-de-Coly in the Dordogne, on a grassy slope above a low stone retaining wall. It can be seen from the outside, with its slate roofs, crenellated turret and conical tower. The entrance passage is topped by a bretèche.
The castle takes its name from an old oil mill on the stream; in 1873 there were eleven sites called "La Filolie" in the Dordogne. The east wing, which closed the courtyard with its drying room, workshop and bakery, was demolished after 1892 and survives only on the 1892 plan.
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