Aguilar: The Royal Engineers' Ring Above the Vines
Occitanie, France
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
1 day
Aguilar: The Royal Engineers' Ring Above the Vines
250 + 100 XP
Aguilar stands two kilometres east of Tuchan, the second castle of Olivier de Termes, who handed it and the Termenès to Louis IX in May 1241 — and got it back ten years later for his conduct in the Holy Land. He finally sold it to the king in Paris in March 1262, and six months after that the royal castellan took possession, which is when the crown's engineers began the outer ring they went on building into the early 14th century, with six semicircular towers. Inside it is the older feudal castle with its hall-block and cistern, the two separated by lists, and the whole thing has no keep at all. The chapel of Sainte-Anne still stands on the south slope in front of the main gate. UNESCO listed it on 26 July 2026 among the Capetian royal fortresses of Languedoc.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Walk the two kilometres east out of Tuchan and up the 96 m hill, and from the walls work out how much of the plain one man could keep an eye on: for all this stonework, the whole garrison in 1302 was the castellan, twelve sergeants, a porter, a single watchman and a chaplain
2
of 5
Count the six semicircular towers of the royal outer ring, then look for what is missing: Aguilar has no keep anywhere inside it, and this outer wall was built straight over the fortified village, which disappeared in the course of the 14th century
3
of 5
Inside the old feudal ring of the lords of Termes, find the cistern and the hall-block beside it, and the rectangular tower added against the wall much later; when the royal castellan took the place over in 1262 he listed its whole armoury as six hand crossbows and one windlass crossbow, three hundred bolts, eleven iron hats and twenty shields
4
of 5
On the south slope in front of the main gate, find the chapel of Sainte-Anne still standing, then trace the few surviving stretches of the wall that once enclosed the village below it — the village the royal engineers built over and nobody rebuilt
5
of 5
Stand in the middle of the walls and set the garrison against the inventory the royal castellan Peire de Mirepoix drew up when he took over in 1262: six hand crossbows and one mounted on the wall, three hundred bolts, eleven iron hats and twenty shields — then decide, looking at six towers and two rings of wall, how many men that actually equipped
Walk the two kilometres east out of Tuchan and up the 96 m hill, and from the walls work out how much of the plain one man could keep an eye on: for all this stonework, the whole garrison in 1302 was the castellan, twelve sergeants, a porter, a single watchman and a chaplain
Count the six semicircular towers of the royal outer ring, then look for what is missing: Aguilar has no keep anywhere inside it, and this outer wall was built straight over the fortified village, which disappeared in the course of the 14th century
Inside the old feudal ring of the lords of Termes, find the cistern and the hall-block beside it, and the rectangular tower added against the wall much later; when the royal castellan took the place over in 1262 he listed its whole armoury as six hand crossbows and one windlass crossbow, three hundred bolts, eleven iron hats and twenty shields
On the south slope in front of the main gate, find the chapel of Sainte-Anne still standing, then trace the few surviving stretches of the wall that once enclosed the village below it — the village the royal engineers built over and nobody rebuilt
Stand in the middle of the walls and set the garrison against the inventory the royal castellan Peire de Mirepoix drew up when he took over in 1262: six hand crossbows and one mounted on the wall, three hundred bolts, eleven iron hats and twenty shields — then decide, looking at six towers and two rings of wall, how many men that actually equipped
Before you go
Tuchan, two kilometres below the castle, is the headquarters of the Corbières-Fenouillèdes regional park and a centre of the Hautes Corbières wine trade, so the castle pairs naturally with a cellar visit in the village afterwards.
Aguilar is a ticketed site, a few euros for adults and half that for children, open daily through the summer and into October, with reduced days in the first half of November before it shuts for the winter. Hours shorten as the season goes on, so check the day before setting out. The last stretch is on foot, uphill and unshaded, and the ruin is open to the tramontane.
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About Occitanie
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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