Tour de Montcuq, Medieval fortified tower in Montcuq-en-Quercy-Blanc, France

Tour de Montcuq is a rectangular keep measuring 12 m by 8.50 m, built of rough grey and beige stones with lighter mortar, rising from a grassy mound. A square turret holding a spiral staircase flanks it, and its only door opens at the turret's base. Inside, the spiral stair serves four rooms, from the barrel-vaulted lower hall where the bedrock shows through the floor to the vaulted top room carrying the platform.

Built in the 12th and early 13th centuries, the keep belonged to the Gourdon de Castelnau, lords of Montcuq and vassals of the counts of Toulouse. Simon de Montfort's troops occupied and plundered the site during the Albigensian Crusade; the treaties of Meaux and Paris (1229) ordered the fortifications destroyed but spared the keep. In 1274 the county of Toulouse was attached to the French crown, and the tower was classified as a monument historique on 25 July 1904.

The keep's rooms show how the lords of Montcuq lived: the second hall held the lord's audiences and court sessions, with latrine access built into the two-metre walls. Stone benches, or coussièges, sit in the window recesses of the third room, the private apartments. The tower is a listed monument since 25 July 1904.

The only entrance is a door at the base of the small square turret housing the spiral stair; the stair serves four rooms and the top platform. Walls about two metres thick and low light inside mean a torch helps. The tower stands on a grassy mound above the medieval village, reached on foot.

From the upper terrace, visitors can overlook the Petite Barguelonne valley, a medieval trade route that made this location strategically valuable. The vista explains why this hilltop position was chosen for monitoring the surrounding territory.