Maison à cornière
MonumentHidden Treasure
Maison à cornière, located in Beaumont (Dordogne), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Beaumont, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 44.7691, 0.7675
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00082344
In the heart of Beaumont-du-Périgord, these medieval corner houses form one of the best-preserved groups of Gothic facades in Périgord, with their 14th-century covered galleries still intact.
History
In the central square of Beaumont-du-Périgord, a small bastide town founded in the 13th century by the English in Périgord, the corbelled houses are one of the most authentic examples of medieval civil architecture in south-western France. These arcaded buildings, characteristic of the Gascon and Périgord bastides, form a string of continuous facades whose architectural coherence has survived the centuries with rare integrity. The term "cornière" refers to the covered gallery formed by the ground floor overhanging pillars or arcades, creating a sheltered space overlooking the square. Functional and elegant, this arrangement enabled merchants to run their shops sheltered from the rain or sun while enlivening the public space. In Beaumont, these arcades are more than just picturesque relics: they still structure the social life of the square today, giving it that shady rhythm so typical of medieval towns in Périgord. What makes this ensemble truly exceptional is the coherence of the north side of the square, where medieval facades follow one another without interruption, embellished with balconies that bear witness to an uninterrupted neighbourhood life since the 14th century. On the south side, a single house has retained its original angle iron and its characteristic pointed roof, a reminder of what the whole must have looked like before the transformations of the following centuries. A stroll through the arcades invites you to look up at the stone details: mouldings, mullioned window frames and sculpted sills. The attentive visitor will notice the subtle interweaving between the medieval buildings and the bastide walls, with some houses on the west side still using the surrounding wall as a back wall. It is this continuity between defence and housing, between public space and private architecture, that makes Beaumont a textbook case for understanding the medieval town planning of the English bastides in Périgord.
Architecture
The corbelled houses of Beaumont-du-Périgord illustrate the typical model of southern bastide architecture: a ground floor opening onto the square through semi-circular or slightly pointed arches, forming a covered gallery known as a "cornière", topped by one or two storeys of living space. The massive, sober load-bearing pillars are carved from blond Périgord limestone, a material that is ubiquitous in local construction. The north side of the square has the most continuous and best-preserved facade. The houses here are embellished with balconies, additions that bear witness to the transformations carried out in the 17th and 18th centuries, without disrupting the harmony of the whole. The openings on the upper floors, with their moulded frames, sometimes reveal traces of mullioned windows characteristic of late Gothic architecture. On the south side, a detached house retains its original steeply pitched pointed roof, a reminder that the medieval silhouette of the square was more vertical and bristly than it is today. The most remarkable technical feature of this complex lies in the integration of the houses on the west side with the old bastide ramparts: the garden wall or rear facade of these buildings rests directly on the medieval curtain wall, testifying to the gradual urbanisation that absorbed the defences into the residential fabric. This architectural palimpsest, where the stone of war becomes the stone of life, is one of the most eloquent signatures of Beaumont's history.
Related Figures
Lucas de Thaney — sénéchal d'Édouard Ier, fondateur de la bastide de Beaumont en 1272Édouard Ier d'Angleterre — roi commanditaire de la fondation de la bastideLes bâtisseurs anonymes du XIVe siècle — maçons et charpentiers locaux ayant érigé les cornièresLes marchands et artisans médiévaux — occupants originels des rez-de-chaussée sous les arcades
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Maison à cornière located?
Maison à cornière is located in Beaumont, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Maison à cornière built?
Maison à cornière dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Maison à cornière open to visitors?
Maison à cornière is currently closed to visitors.
