REPORTING – A jewel of Gironde heritage, Benauge Castle was the residence of the most powerful Gascon lords until the end of the Hundred Years’ War. Listed as a historic monument, it now belongs to an illustrious Bordeaux family who watches over its posterity.
Le Figaro Bordeaux
Standing at an altitude of 120 meters in the center of Entre-deux-Mer, the stones of the Château de Benauge retain the aura of the largest seigneury in Gironde until the construction of the bastide of Cadillac. Well preserved and little known, this stronghold of the region appeared in the 11the century. At the time, all the gates of the surrounding towns facing his direction inherited his name, as far as Bordeaux where the Benauge district still exists. Ten centuries later, the building which withstood two sieges is in the hands of an illustrious Bordeaux family, descendants of a notable ennobled under Napoleon III. And since its acquisition by Auguste Journu in 1913, six months before the First World War, three generations have already succeeded one another to preserve this Gironde heritage.
“We deprived ourselves of everything to restore the historic part. When our oldest daughter got married in 1985, we still didn’t have a water heater. The emergency has always been restoration”confides Véronique Journu. “We would never have been able to keep Benauge if we had not done a lot of things on our own”. Alongside her husband, 86 years old, who still gets into his tractor to mow ditches and who still climbs on roofs to renovate them, the chatelaine “almost octogenarian” works to preserve the castle with his four children, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. In family photographs, the youngest of the siblings appears like this, at only 4 years old, because she wanted to help her parents sort the stones from a collapsed parapet which had to be rebuilt. “Current generations go to great lengths to come and work on maintaining the castle every summer. Our grandchildren all know how to make mortar the old fashioned way.”marvels the owner, certain that the Benauge torch has been passed on.
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A registered local heritage
Surrounded by a double wall and former residence of the most powerful lords of the region (until its seizure and order for demolition during the Revolution), Benauge Castle also arouses admiration and passion among the surrounding inhabitants. Since 1993, two years before the places were listed as historic monuments, the Friends of Benauge association has contributed to ensuring the posterity of this jewel of the Gironde. Each year, between visits and events, its 129 members manage to raise 25,000 euros, which finances the renovation of the ruins (in which they actively participate).
Besieged by Henry III, the King of England, for 40 days in 1253, a first part of the castle had indeed collapsed before it was entrusted to Jean de Grailly, a rich and powerful military leader feared by the King of France. then, Louis IX. Two centuries later, shortly after the capture of Castillon-la-Bataille on July 17, 1453, the stronghold was attacked again because it still resisted the King of France, Charle VII, more by “desire for independence only through Anglophilia”, explains David Souny. According to the author of a thesis on the lords of Benauge and director of the Histoires de pierre design office, the fall of the castle which then supported Bordeaux, Rions and the bastide of Cadillac in the autumn of that year initiated the elsewhere the end of the Hundred Years’ War.
A story that the Journu intend to promote. Eighty cannonballs fired from a trebuchet from the field below adorn the castle’s stone staircase and outline the perimeter of its gardens. In the barn, a craft museum traces the history of the different owners who have succeeded one another. As for the transmission of this heritage, the third generation of Journu has already taken care of it. The son trims the hedges in the same way as the father and above all, the succession was ensured via a real estate company (SCI). “We are sure that this will be sustained”, rejoices Véronique Journu. And if the identity of the Château de Benauge remains that of a family second home, its doors are open to the public during Heritage Days and for private visits organized by the Gironde tour guide and specialist of the place, David Souny.
