Floiras

It's the construction site itself, not singing, that is
forbidden to the public.  The public is encouraged to sing.

Floiras lay dying below Belaye at the intersection of the D8 and the D45.  You could almost see blood draining from the wounds of this chateau:  these stone walls are nowhere nearly as solid as they may once the roofs start to go, the soft central core of the walls dissolves and complete collapse is just a matter of time.  

All groaned in passing this relic.  There were all kinds of rumors about why the owner would allow this to happen.  As usual, the privileged explanation was a family feud resulting from French inheritance laws.  There was a petition to do something;  the mayor acted and got the national historical architect involved.  There were rumors that when the mayor told the owner he might try to take the building by eminent domain as a danger to passing traffic, the owner defiantly declared he would have the parts in danger of blocking the road bulldozed.  Someone told me the owner believed himself to be the Bourbon heir to the French crown.

A La Dépêche article in 2007 identified the former owner as one Thierry de Bercegol du Moulin de Fitz.   Note not  one, not two but three particles of nobility.  We're dealing with some serious pretention here.  Somehow  M. Thierry (writing the whole name out would only copycat famous the Monty Python routine.) eventually sold to a British family according to the article.  It didn't sound good the report that this family's first move was to try to unearth anyone old enough to remember what furniture had been where in the chateau.  The place was teetering on the brink of destruction.

It isn't clear what happened to the British family but the place sat vacant and more moribund with each passing year.  Realtor after realtor posted for sale signs.   Then amazingly enough, a builder from up north stepped up to the plate.  He said he figured it would take 15 years to do the renovations.  The crew of historical construction specialists dug in first on roofing one of the typical Quercy towers.

So this much of the ice cream cone they built on the ground.  They did finish tiles on the upper part before liftoff but left the lower part to be completed on high.  Why?  Just to reduce weight?  This lower area would be the easiest to reach.  

I doubt that this crane was the one used to lift up the ice cream cone.  They must have brought in a larger one and then continued working from this smaller one.

This dude, who has definitely been around the block a few times, seemed to be working solo the day I was taking these pictures.  The construction is in numerous layers:   the framing, interior sheathing, intermediate, light sleepers (chevrons),  exterior sheathing, and finally special tiles.   The tiles are slightly curved but even so, up close-ish, the appearance is of a shaggy surface. 

The site has been in hibernation ever since they buttoned up the tower roof.  Are they waiting for better weather?  Has the new owner already run out of steam, 14 years too soon?  Stay tuned.

   

PS  "Floiras" is hard to pronounce correctly, like the family name "Langlois" that became notorious from a well-known commercial where hotel clerks from around the world slaughtered it.  "Flwahrahs"