Escorailles Castle

Escorailles Castle, locally known as Château d'Escorailles, lies in the village of the same name, in the Cantal department in France.

The present castle was a successor of a Merovingian castrum from the 8th century which was situated on a rocky outcrop, overlooking the valley of the Auze, just a couple of hundred meters away. At the start of the 11th century that 'castle' was abandoned and a new castle was built on a height above the former castrum. That new castle was Escorailles Castle. It was the home of the Scorailles family and a village quickly grew around it.

By the end of the Hundred Years' War, in the mid-15th century, Escorailles Castle had become dilapidated and was slowly falling to ruin. The Scorailles family had grown in importance during the centuries, so Marquès de Scorailles decided to build a new, more decent castle for his family. He then built La Vigne Castle 300 meters to the north of Escorailles, on the site of an old vineyard, between 1470 and 1485. Escorailles was left to fall to ruin.

Of the castle, one round flanking tower still stands intact. The large ruin of another tower is too much overgrown to see. The castle terrain is now occupied by a residence and its garden.

At present Escorailles Castle is part of a private residence and can therefore not be visited, only be viewed externally. Not one to visit on its own but nice in combination with nearby La Vigne Castle.

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