Photo : Wikimedia Commons
Château de Bours
Listed as a Historic Monument since 1965, this tower, originally entirely of local Artois sandstone, was built in the fourteenth century. It consists of a square base flanked by six corbelled cylindrical turrets, which gives it a unique and massive architecture. Massive in appearance because what counts here is showing seigneurial power through an out-of-the-ordinary structure! In reality, a cannonball would easily pierce a turret… This residence has the comforts of the period: separate rooms, spiral staircase, fireplaces and latrines. The Bours keep was thus the place of expression of local power and the lord's lodging.
The fortified house is now isolated and ringed by pastures but it was an estate that had its wide flooded moats, its upper court with garden and its lower court with farm and barns. All this has disappeared and only the castle remains.
From an architectural demonstration of local seigneurial power to the commune's town hall until 2014, the Bours keep is today a precious witness of a knight's residence to be shown to all. But before that, the monument enters its phase of complete restoration. The site is therefore closed to the public. Works began in 2014 for a period of about two years... See you soon to discover the site differently!
