Photo : Stéfan Le Dû / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Tours de Merle
The Tours de Merle form a ruined fortified town at Saint-Geniez-ô-Merle, in the Corrèze, on a rocky spur in a meander of the Maronne, in the Xaintrie. Built from the 12th to the 16th century, they were the centre of a joint lordship and a castellany mentioned as early as 1219.
On the borders of the Duchy of Aquitaine, the County of Auvergne and the County of Toulouse, the site controlled a toll. Seven seigneurial families shared power here, each building its own tower. The English occupied part of it in 1371 before giving it back; the Protestants seized it in 1574 and were driven out in 1576. Gradually abandoned by the co-lords, the village dispersed at the end of the 17th century, though some inhabitants stayed until the early 20th.
Listed as a historic monument in 1927, the site of about ten hectares can be visited from Easter to the autumn half-term holidays, with towers, fortified houses and remains of dwellings.
