Château de Marigny-le-Cahouët, Historical castle in Marigny-le-Cahouët, France

Château de Marigny-le-Cahouët is a medieval plain castle about 60 km north-west of Dijon, built of pale beige and light grey stone. A crenellated wall with rectangular merlons leads to a tall square tower with a pyramidal roof of red tiles edged by a yellow zigzag pattern and topped by a metal crest. Below the roof, a small square window sits above a stone machicolation with rectangular corbels, and an arched entrance opens at the tower's base; a lower wing with mullioned windows extends to the right.

Construction began in the 12th century, and a castle is documented at Marigny-le-Cahouët by 1461. Michel du Faur de Pibrac acquired the seigneury in 1605; in 1652 it was raised to a county for Jacques-François de Pibrac, who had the present castle built. Bought in 1720 by the Lorenchet family, then the Baudry de Villaines, it was heavily restored in the 19th century on 15th-century foundations.

The castle is private property and cannot be visited freely, not even on European Heritage Days. Its grounds and buildings have appeared on film: Ni vu, ni connu by Yves Robert in 1958, Angélique, Marquise des Anges in 1964, Clérambard and a 1961 version of The Three Musketeers.

The castle is private property and cannot be visited freely, not even on European Heritage Days. It stands in open countryside about 60 km northwest of Dijon, reached by local roads, so a car is needed. Views of the walls, towers and moats are from the public approach; the drawbridge and tree-lined avenue are separately listed since 2008.

The castle appears in several films: Ni vu, ni connu by Yves Robert in 1958, Angélique, Marquise des Anges in 1964, and Clérambard in 1969. The moats are fed by a branch of the Lochère, a tributary of the Brenne. The gate, tree-lined avenue, moats and drawbridge were separately listed as monuments historiques on 12 June 2008.