Château de Campagnac, Medieval castle in Sarlat-la-Canéda, France.

Château de Campagnac stands 4.7 km northwest of Sarlat-la-Canéda, in the former parish of Campagnac-l'Évêque. Its centre is a tall round tower of light beige masonry with a dark grey conical roof, a small rectangular window and a carved band below the cone. A lower wing with a steep tiled roof and grilled ground-floor windows adjoins it on the left; on the right, a flat stone facade has three tall windows with red shutters and a red double door.

Built by a member of the Plamon family, a bourgeois Sarlat lineage that supplied consuls from the 14th century, the castle was taken in 1348 by English garrisons from Bergerac, Le Bugue and Tayac, who were quickly dislodged by the seneschal of Périgord and the sieur de Ribeyrac. It later passed to the Roux de Campagnac and d'Abzac de Campagnac families. In 1592 Jean Roux, seigneur de Campagnac, was killed defending it against the sieur de Pelvézy. Sold as a bien national, it was bought in 1830 by Baron Pierre Stanislas Alexandre de Dampierre, then in 1891 by Gabrielle van Marcke de Lummen, wife of the painter Louis Watelin, who lived there from 1896.

The name Campagnac-l'Évêque, used for the parish at least from 1657 to 1792, refers to the bishop of Sarlat, on whose diocese the estate depended. The castle passed from the Plamon family to the Roux de Campagnac and then the d'Abzac de Campagnac in the 14th century. In 1592 Jean Roux, seigneur de Campagnac, was killed defending the castle against the sieur de Pelvézy and his brothers.

The castle has been left abandoned since its purchase by the municipality in 1980 and is falling into ruins, with renovation costs estimated at around 2 million euros. The 40 hectares around it serve as hiking paths. The building itself is not open to visitors.

The south tower preserves a spiral staircase with a rotating barrel vault supported by double arches resting on prismatic consoles. This architectural detail is a rare feature that captures the attention of specialists and curious visitors alike.