. Castles and chateaux of old Burgundy and the border provinces. remier there may have been anothergood, or at least sufficient, reason, for SaintVallier and Diane de Poitiers were but a fewhours away. But thats another point of view,a by-path which need not be followed here, sinceit would lead us too far astray. Following still the valley of the Isere, onecomes to the Chateau de la Sone, at one time one,of the strongest fortifications of the lower val-ley. It was the key to the Eoyonnais, and asubterranean passage led from its platformunderneath the bed of the Isere itself to a cha-teau of th
. Castles and chateaux of old Burgundy and the border provinces. remier there may have been anothergood, or at least sufficient, reason, for SaintVallier and Diane de Poitiers were but a fewhours away. But thats another point of view,a by-path which need not be followed here, sinceit would lead us too far astray. Following still the valley of the Isere, onecomes to the Chateau de la Sone, at one time one,of the strongest fortifications of the lower val-ley. It was the key to the Eoyonnais, and asubterranean passage led from its platformunderneath the bed of the Isere itself to a cha-teau of the Dauphins on the opposite bank. With the establishment of a silk-mill here inthe chateau in 1771 all romance fled, and therebeing no more need for a subterranean exit, thepassage-way was allowed to fill up. To-dayone takes the assertion on faith; there is noth-ing to prove it one way or another. It was here within these walls that Vaucan-son (1709-1782), the sorcier-mecanicien/ in-vented the chain without end, which revolution-ized the silk-spinning In Lower Dauphiny 321 The aspect of the chateau to-day, declassedthough it is, is most picturesque. It is the veryideal of a riverside castle, for it bears the proudprofile of a fortress of no mean pretensionseven now, far more than it does that of a lux-urious dwelling or a banal factory. It is oneof those structures one loves to know inti-mately, and not ignore just because it has be-come a commoner among the noble chateaux ofhistory. Two very curious twin towns are Romansand Bourg-de-Peage, separated by the rapidlyflowing waters of the Isere. If such a group-ment of old houses and rooftops were in Swit-zerland or Germany, and were presided overby some burgrave or seneschal, all the worldof tourists would rave over their atmosphereof medisevalism. Being in France, and oif themain lines of travel, they are largely ignored,even by the French themselves. It is to be re-marked that their history and romance havebeen such t
Size: 1281px × 1950px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthormansfieldmilburgfranc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900
