The town of Blanquefort, in the second belt of Bordeaux’s northern suburbs, owes its name to this “white fort” (Blanque fortis) which kept watch over the marshy Garonne-side lowlands from the 11th century onwards. Today, the privately-owned site occasionally opens its doors to the general public, and visiting the ruins provides a unique means of instantly rewinding through 1,000 years of history. 

Archaeological digs in the area have established that there was human presence here as early as 1200BC. More recent Gallo-Roman period tiles were also uncovered suggesting that there may have been a rudimentary structure designed to monitor movement along the road pictured below, which at the time was the only route into Burdigala (Bordeaux) from the north.

This was once the main road into Bordeaux from the Médoc!

Come the 11th century, a stone keep was erected and became the residence of the Lords of Blanquefort (as referred to in documents dated 1080), who owned land that stretched from the Garonne to the Atlantic. Despite being built on a low mound surrounded by a plain, the site’s location continued to prove strategic as the structure was used to collect “tonlieu” taxes from those passing through. Around 1214, a lack of male descendants resulted in the direct branch of the Blanquefort seigneury family dying out.

By now, the region had passed under English control and the castle and its land were acquired in two lots, first in 1257 by Henry III, King of England, then by his son Prince Edward in 1270 (two years before he himself became crowned King Edward – he was to reign until 1307). The central residential section of what was now a royal fortress was now strengthened by six towers. A stone wall and turrets had also been erected where a wooden palisade had probably previously stood. The overall structure was now a bona fide fortress and became the cornerstone of the area’s system of defence, as a means of regulating overland access from the north and controlling boat traffic on the Garonne. At the time, between 20 and 30 soldiers were permanently stationed here.

As well as the royal throne, Edward I’s successor, Edward II, also inherited a number of debts and so, in 1308, gifted the fortress to one of his creditors, Bertrand de Got, the nephew of Pope Clement V. It was then passed on to Aymeri de Durfort, Lord of Duras, in 1325, before being attributed by the French King Charles VII to Antoine de Chabannes, Count of Dammartin, as a reward for his contribution to the Hundred Years’ War against the English. Under de Chabannes’ authority, the structure was further embellished with a new grand entrance to the central residential section and the addition of two artillery towers.

The grand entrance as added in the 15th century.

Inside, traces of a spiral staircase on the walls.

The musical chairs continued around 1466 when de Chabannes swapped Blanquefort for six seigneuries near Paris. Ten years later, the Blanquefort seigneury was returned to the Durforts, who remained at its helm until the 1789 French Revolution, despite having abandoned the fortress as a residential concern in the 17th century after it had come under regular siege during the 16th-century wars of religion. 

The way it was: 1632 picture of the fortress as drawn by the Dutch artist Hermann Van der Hem (source: GAHBLE information panel).

The 18th century proved fatal for the fortress: the surrounding marshland was drained, robbing the structure of its natural system of defence, and further downstream, Marquis de Vauban implemented brand new means of fortification to protect the Gironde Estuary. The fortress was abandoned and soon fell into ruins, as much of its stone was used to build other homes in the vicinity.

In 1862, there was a moderate change in fortunes when the fortress became one of the first medieval castles to be listed as one of France's Historic Monuments. In the ensuing years, local “paysans” took up residence in the gatehouse towers and even built a modern house within the fortress walls. As such the structure was inhabited until the 1920s when it was abandoned for good. Ivy soon covered the walls while the ground became a thick carpet of wild vegetation.

In 1962, volunteers set up an archaeological association to study, preserve and "reclaim" the fortress, and extensive digs took place to better understand the structure and its design. Today the fortress and the surrounding land are private property, but upkeep is overseen by a local association, GAHBLE (Groupe d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de Blanquefort). GAHBLE members organise guided tours of the fortress more or less once a month, as well as holding open day events as part of the wider annual European Heritage weekends.

These visits are obviously a great means of getting the bigger picture of what life may have been like within the fortress, but also of uncovering some of its less-expected aspects. In amongst the ruins it is easy to pick out what used to be the kitchen area, the fireplace and the latrines. Countless round shot cannonballs, used to attack the fortress during the wars of religion, must have been gathered together at the time and have not moved in hundreds of years. In some parts the stone flooring is intact and has its own tale to tell as the stone can be traced across Europe to the banks of the Thames and Rhine: the stone would have arrived in the area as ballast to provide stability on cargo ships, and was replaced by wine or other goods for the return trip!

Wartime round shot remnants!

Blanquefort’s white fort may no longer serve a practical purpose or dominate the surrounding plains, but it remains a fascinating symbol of how times have changed.

> Find it on the Invisible Bordeaux map: Forteresse de Blanquefort, rue de la Forteresse, Blanquefort. 
> GAHBLE website: www.gahble.org

In the previous Invisible Bordeaux posts (click here for part 1 and part 2), you will have read about the first stages in my attempt to use the Bordeaux edition of the board game Monopoly as a roadmap to cycle around the city. The second chapter ended with me outside Sainte-Croix church.

From here it was just a short ride to Gare Saint-Jean railway station, one of the four public transport squares to collect on the Bordeaux Monopoly board (solely railway stations in the original editions). On the other side of the railway lines lies the Belcier quarter which is, along with Bassins à Flots, currently the cheapest square on the board (60 Monopoly dollars, or M's). There are run-down, semi-demolished houses, rows of no-frills low-rise échoppes, but also a number of modern office and residential buildings taking shape and heralding the area’s on-going re-birth, which is likely to move up a gear when the very high-speed rail network is complete in 2017. Property here will then be just two hours from central Paris, i.e. almost as accessible as some of the capital city’s distant suburbs!

In the previous Invisible Bordeaux post, you will have read about the first stages in my attempt to use the Bordeaux edition of Monopoly as a roadmap to cycle around the city. The first chapter ended with me on Esplanade des Quinconces admiring wedding photographers at work.

From here on the Monopoly stops were coming thick and fast: the affluent Triangle d’Or (the most expensive blue-set property on the board, at 400 Monopoly dollars, or M's), the public transport hub and square that is Place Gambetta (M240), the wide walkway of Cours du Chapeau-Rouge (M260) where a few artists were displaying and selling their pictures, and Place de la Bourse (M320) which, at the time I was there, was still virtually deserted.

Every year during my family’s summer holidays, a different board game rules the early-evening apéritif slot. This year, that game was the Bordeaux edition of the classic board game Monopoly and it occurred to me, possibly after a couple of glasses of Corsican wine (and probably inspired by this book), that the board could serve as an interesting and unusual roadmap for a cycle ride around the city. The Invisible Bordeaux Monopoly challenge was born!

The current Bordeaux Monopoly set, one of a host of regional variants that are now available (Bassin d’Arcachon and Gironde versions also exist), was released by games specialists Winning Moves under licence from Hasbro in 2011, a decade on from the city’s first edition. The streets and districts on the board cover a wide variety of property market values, as identified with the aid of local real estate specialists. The Monopoly board therefore serves as an instant snapshot of where in the city property is the most desirable, and where it is the most affordable!

Welcome to the Le Chapon Fin, one of Bordeaux’s oldest restaurants and firmly established as an essential high-society meeting point in the heart of the affluent Triangle d’Or, the three sides of which are formed by Cours de l’Intendance, Cours Clémenceau and Allées de Tourny.

The restaurant was founded in 1825 in the slipstream of the French Revolution. Convent land and buildings had been confiscated and within the space of a few years of hasty urban planning, housing, shops, theatres, a covered market and restaurants all mushroomed to serve the needs of the quarter’s wealthy trader residents.