A Property For Sale With Its Own Templar Legend
Seymour-James (marketing specialist for property in South West France) is delighted to promote the sale of an unusual chateau in the Dordogne - situated midway between Bordeaux and Bergerac.
Beautiful Chateau de Maravau rests on an old Gallo-Roman site of three acres and it is from here that the Knights Templar built a Lookout Tower in the 12th Century. This tower was used for early warning of attacks and stands magnificently today as a key part of the chateau. Within the grounds of the chateau, stands another house, 'la Maison du Chevalier' also due to the Templars. The Knights lived here and would have received pilgrims on their way to the Holy Lands.
La Maison du Chevalier has a vaulted cellar and is very typical of Templar building. At one time an underground passageway also connected the local churchyard to this cellar. The cellar was almost certainly used later during the Hundred Years War in the 14th and 15th Century between the English and French and throughout the Wars of Religion during the 16th Century by those fleeing incarceration or worse.
A legend has been passed on down through the ages concerning the tunnel as it is supposed to have branched off near the churchyard. The local story goes that a treasure is buried at some point along the tunnel. It is not possible to say if a treasure exists indeed or ever existed but the current owner of the chateau believes it to be worthy of further investigation. |
