The Château de la Bastie d'Urfé (also known as Bastie d'Urfé or Bâtie d’Urfé) is a French château in the town of Saint-Étienne-le-Molard, historically within the province of Forez. In the 16th century it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style by Claude d'Urfé and bought in 1836 by Caroline de Lagrange (1806-1870), daughter of count Joseph Lagrange (1763-1836). The intarsia panelling of the 16th-century chapel is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Château de la Bâtie Urfé

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The Château de Montrond is a ruined castle in the commune of Montrond-les-Bains in the Loire département of France.
As with other ruined feudal castles in the département, such as the Château de Rochetaillée in Saint-Étienne and the Château d'Essalois at Chambles, the Château de Montrond-les-Bains has been partly restored. For some years, a mediaeval festival has been organised in August.
History
The castle is named after Mont Rond, a volcanic dyke which dominates the surrounding plain. A 12th century reference in Latin to a castrum montais rondunti indicates the presence of a small fortification, the property of the Counts of Forez.
In 1302, Count Jean I transferred title to Montrond and its tower to Arthaud de Saint-Germain. Around 1325, Arthaud IV undertook the construction of the first castle. In 1523, the marriage of Arthaud IX to Marguerite d’Albon, the daughter of Jean, governor of the children of François I, allowed the seigneurie of Montrond to reach the height of its renown. The austere fortress was transformed into a beautiful and rich home in Renaissance style.
Heavily involved in the Wars of Religion, the descendants of Arthaud IX retained their property thanks to their fidelity to the royal power.
The family left Montrond in 1730 to establish themselves close to Paris. The last marquis, Antoine-Claude, was guillotined there in April 1793. In September of the same year, the Château de Montrond was burned by a detachment of revolutionary soldiers. The Apchon-Montrond family died out in 1807 with the death of a girl without descendants.
The castle was sold to an individual in 1828 who used it as a quarry for stones. Left abandoned for a century and a half, it was saved from certain ruin by the Association des Amis du château (Association of Friends of the Castle) founded in 1969.
The remains of the castle were listed as a monument historique in 1934, and the whole castle and its surroundings in 1946.

Château de Montrond

The Château de Chalmazel, or Château des Talaru is a castle situated in the commune of Chalmazel, in the Loire département of France. It is located in the Haut-Forez, between the towns of Saint-Étienne and Thiers. Its name in medieval times was Saint-Jehan-des-Neiges. The castle dominates the valley of the Lignon and it was built to be an impregnable fortress on the instructions of the Count of Forez.
History
Construction of the fortress began in 1231. The work was carried out by seigneur (Lord) Arnaud de Marcilly to the order of Guy IV du Forez who financed it. The site was covered by forest and almost inaccessible. Initially, it functioned rather as a fortified house, but it was transformed into a genuine medieval fortress, intended to counteract the ambitions of the powerful neighbours of the seigneurie of Couzan, then in the hands of the Damas family, linked to the Germanic emperor.
The castle appeared gloomy and severe, with four round towers dominated by a square keep, with no openings on the sides.
When Antoine de Marcilly died aged 25 with no direct heirs in 1371, the castle passed to his sister Béatrix, last of the Marcilly line. She had married Mathieu de Talaru in 1364; thus the seigneurie of Chalmazel passed to the Talarus, an old noble family from the Lyonnais.
Following the destruction of the Château de Marcilly, the Talarus withdrew to the castle at Chamazel and, in 1400, they built the ramparts, in the form of a pentagonal enceinte and added machicolations to the keep. After the incorporation of Forez into the Kingdom of France, the Talarus served the king in his armies.
During the Renaissance, the Marquis de Talaru, returning from the Italian Wars, added Renaissance style embellishments: openwork facade, galleries to the inner court, painting in the chapel, sculptures.
But the winters were harsh, and from 1533, the Talarus preferred to live in their Château d'Écotay or in Saint-Marcel-de-Félines, acquired by marriage in 1559. Chalmazel was transformed into a summer residence and began to be neglected.
In the 18th century, the Talarus inherited by marriage the Château de Chamarande, near Arpajon, to the south of Paris, and they moved there to be closer to Versailles where Louis de Talaru held important posts in the royal court and the army. They abandoned the castle in 1650, carrying out only the most urgent work. The castle began a slow but sure deterioration.
In 1850, Louis-Justin, last Marquis of Talaru, 25th lord of Chalmazel, peer of France and ambassador, with no heirs, left the castle and the forest to the nuns of the Sœurs de Saint-Joseph, in order to establish a hospital for the canton for the care of the sick.
The nuns carried out some repair work (roof, round walk, rebuilding a tower) and decoration. Later, they transformed it into a boarding school for children from the school at Chamazel.
The nuns finally left the castle in 1972 and rented it to the commune, on condition that it was maintained and opened to the public during the summer months.
The castle is now owned by new proprietors who intend to open it to visitors and to create chambres d'hôtes (bed and breakfast accommodation).
Tourism
The castle, with its medieval aspect, has kept the elements of a fortified house from the year 1231, but with all of the later modifications and additions by the Talarus over the centuries: murder-holes, walls, keep, round walk with machicolations - but it also has Renaissance elements: the facade, the inner courtyard, galleries and chapel.
The castle is open to visitors from June to September. It is possible to rent rooms and a suite.
The Château de Chalmazel is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.

Château de Chalmazel

The Château de La Roche is a restored castle situated in the commune of Saint-Priest-la-Roche in the Loire département of France, 20 km from Roanne. The castle stands on an island in the lake formed by the Villerest dam.
History
The earliest written records of the castle date from 1260. It was built on a rocky platform overlooking the Loire river from a height of 30 metres. The fortress allowed a watch to be kept and tolls to be collected for the County of Forez border. The building suffered floods from the Loire more often than attacks from enemies.
In the 17th century, because of repetitive floods, the castle lost its attraction, resembling more and more a fortified house that would become a ruin in later centuries. At the end of the 1900s, an industrilaist from Roanne bought the castle and restored it in the Gothic style, intending it as a second home.
During the 1930s, the construction project for the Villerest dam by EDF condemned the château to disappear below the water. The structure degraded very quickly and was subject to numerous acts of vandalism. It was finally bought for a symbolic one franc by the commune.
During the construction of the dam in 1984, the château was the only building spared by the waters. It is now situated on an island. In 1996, it was entirely restored and the side facing the water was remodelled to permit access throughout the year.
The regulation of the waters of the Loire have not fully protected the château; it was affected by floodwater in 2003 and 2008.