QR La Sauvetat 8
From ice silo to prison…
The door at the base of the tower gives access to a room identified as a prison. Above the door in two poly-lobed cartouches are carved the arms of the Order of the Hospitallers and of Odon de Montaigu, Grand Prior of Auvergne. They are a reminder that the tower owes its construction to this high dignitary of the Order. The door leaf still has its bolt, a type known as Vertevelle, bearing a dog’s head.
The ground floor of the tower gives access to a vaulted room, perhaps used as a grain silo or ice house, as certain architectural details seem to indicate. According to the literature, the first floor was used as a civil prison. The second floor, with its bays fitted with coussièges (benches provided in the window frames) and its chimney, possibly contained a guardhouse.