XVIII^th Century Castle

X^th Century Fortress

Arlay’s hill offers spectacular fortified ramparts, surrounding a fortress and the old village of Arlay. The foundations had been dated around 1150. But their true origin dives as deep as the Antiquity, attested by the roman tank and the Merovingian wall, last relic of the primitive castle (feudal mote). The fortress was the stronghold of the Burgundy Counts in the VIth Century. Hereafter the Chalon-Arlay Counts transformed it in a fearsome fortress where they established their powerful barony during 5 centuries.

It was indeed one of the first equipped with guns as the fortress stands in a strategic location on the top of the hill. At its feet used to spread the old village which an octagonal tower is the only visible relic. The castle had been built in an Anglo-Saxon style which emphasizes the military and strategic destination of this place. A massive dungeon and a chapel/arsenal with strong walls used to protect buildings which are nowadays a plain and simple terrace.

The point of view, there, is unmatched over the first mounts of Jura to the East till the Poupet Mount more to the North. From the “Point de vue” Tower, the landscape widens to the South and West over the Bresse plain and the coasts of Chalon. The Epinette door, the old southern entrance gate of the fortress, used to open the road to Lons-le-Saunier through the ancestral vineyard of the estate.