Tour de Moricq, Medieval fortified tower in Angles, France
The Tour de Moricq is a fortified limestone tower in Angles that rises about 15 meters high and measures roughly 14 by 11 meters across. The structure displays typical medieval defensive features such as crenellations and loopholes designed to protect against attackers.
Fortifications at Moricq are documented from 1090, when Giraudus de Morech is named as the first known lord. The present keep was rebuilt around 1435 by Régnault Girard, mayor of La Rochelle, who had bought the castle in 1430. It guarded the port of Moricq, which exported wine, grain and wood to La Rochelle and Bordeaux, and the then-navigable mouth of the Lay. During the siege of La Rochelle in 1628 the corner tower holding the spiral staircase was demolished.
The tower still bears scratches and markings that recall religious conflicts and its use as a prison after the Edict of Nantes was revoked. These traces tell the story of turbulent times that shaped life in this region.
The tower stands on a triangular plot bordered by the former moat, now a ditch, with the Lay river nearby. Access is from the hamlet of Moricq in Angles; the site is on footpaths across the marsh. The ground floor and lower vaults are reached by a narrow stair, and the top offers a view over the Marais. Check locally for opening times.
The vaults in the basement are Romanesque, not Roman: they suggest the foundations predate the 15th-century tower. The moat was fed by the Lay and its water stood about 2 metres below ground level. A cylindrical stair turret 6.70 metres in diameter once stood against the tower.
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