169 - Conquering Château d'Arlempdes (waymark no. 18)

Arlempdes and its castle: Arlempdes is the perfect illustration of these mountain castles with their complex topography. Perched on a rocky spur overlooking a bend in the Loire, it follows the shape of the rock, which is made of basalt. It is roughly organised in two zones separated by a wall: to the north the residential part, with chapel and living quarters, and to the south a parade ground surrounded by curtain walls. In the middle of this dividing wall stands a modest round tower, called the “keep”, although its small size makes it only a symbolic tower, which could house the prisons or the archives of the lordship. Various clues suggest that the present remains of the enclosure and the buildings go back to the original layout, despite the rebuilding of the north courtyard. It is mainly the south front that keeps the medieval fortified enclosure, with curtain wall and flanking towers, forming a bailey or parade ground, dated to the 1200s. The north platform now has only residual elements of the original layout, with the exception of the Saint-Jacques chapel, which seems contemporary with the oldest parts of the castle.

Located on an outlying, dominant part, this castle chapel stands out for the quality of its construction, using reddish volcanic scoria stone. Despite its small size, it is representative of the Romanesque religious architecture of the Velay, with an apse with a low wall (mur-bahut) vaulted in a half-dome (cul-de-four) and lateral relieving arches. The north wall is pierced by a door that seems to correspond to a link, by a gallery (tribune), with a building attached to the nave, now vanished. Some think it was most likely a gallery linking the chapel to the original residential core of the castle. This two-bay building, straddling two levels of rocky base, now shows only the remains of a kitchen with its oven, no doubt of a later date.