Château de la Salle, Castle in La Salle, Saône-et-Loire, France

Château de la Salle is a medieval castle in La Salle, France, centered on a large square tower built in the twelfth century. A gothic chapel stands beside the tower, and the entire site displays defensive features typical of that era.

The castle was built in the twelfth century to guard a crossing point on the Saône River and oversee toll collection. It changed hands several times during the medieval period, including ownership by bishops, before a new neo-gothic castle was constructed nearby in the 1870s.

The name La Salle covers two separate buildings a few hundred metres apart: the medieval keep and chapel, and the castle built around 1870 in the Mouge valley. The older site began as a toll post on the Saône at the Mouge confluence; in 1368 Girard de Vers shared the toll and estates with Catherine de la Salle. The 1870 castle was commissioned by François Bonnardel and built under the Lyon architect Charles-Marie Franchet.

The castle is privately owned and cannot be entered, but the outer walls and tower are visible from outside and worth viewing on a walk around the grounds. Visit during daylight when the stone structures and surrounding landscape are clear to see.

The 1870 château was commissioned by François Bonnardel and built under the Lyon architect Charles-Marie Franchet at a cost of six million gold francs. The medieval remains nearby are older: a rectangular keep with corbels that once carried wooden machicolations, and a 12th-century Gothic chapel. Both were listed as monuments historiques on 20 December 1991.