The architectural and historical context

Guédelon's building plans

The methodology

The materials

1997 - 2010: Building timetable

Diaporamas

1997 - A madcap scheme gets underway

The site laid bare in 1997

In 1997, work on the site begins but it is still not open to the public.  The first ten-man team begins work.

-  The site is cleared in readiness for the future castle (vegetation removal, ground preparation, tidying up the site etc.).

-  The first workshops and the visitors' entrance barn are built.

-  The castle's perimeter is laid out.

1998 - The public inauguration

The day of the official inauguration

The site opens to the public in May 1998 in appalling weather conditions.

-  The workforce is strengthened by the arrival of an additional 20 members of staff.

-  The whole of the castle's perimeter (towers and curtain walls) are built up to 1 metre high.

1999 – On the way up

The square towers become round

The castle's perimeter walls continue to grow.

NB: the base of the curtain walls and the towers' battered scarps are over 3 metres thick.

-  First modification of the original plans: on the southern façade, the square corner towers are transformed into cylindrical towers.

-  The west curtain wall is 3 metres high.

-  The cupola of the water cistern in the chapel tower's basement is built.

2000 – Bridging the gap

The fixed bridge's abutment

-  Work on the chapel tower's ground-floor guardroom gets under way.

-  The inside walls of this room - including the masonry on the 3 arrow-loops, and the beginning of the cross-ribbed vault (sculpting of the corbels) - are built.

-  The first 3 steps of the chapel tower's spiral stairs (newel stairs or a vice) are dressed and put in position. 

NB: the first 3 steps are in ferruginous sandstone, whilst the rest are in limestone.  Sandstone is used on the lower steps because it is less water-permeable than limestone.

-  Masonry of the fixed bridge's stone abutment completed.

-  The carpenters make and assemble the centring in the chapel tower, in order to position the vault's masonry.

2001 – Managing the water supply

Assembling the piers of the fixed bridge

- Completion of the water cistern in the chapel tower's basement.

- The second cistern - in the great tower's cellar - is built.

-  In the courtyard, the well's enormous monolithic curb stone is put in place. The curb weighs nearly one and a half tonnes.

-  The fixed bridge's piers and roadway are assembled.

-  The curtain walls continue to gain height.

2002 – The first vault

Cross-ribbed vault and newel stairs

2002 was a year of intense emotion with the realisation of the castle's first engineered structure: the chapel tower's cross-ribbed vault.

-  Construction of the limestone vault's 6 ribs; each rib is made up of 1 corbel and 8 voussoirs, the vault is crowned by the keystone.

-  The 24 steps on the newel stairs are installed.

-  Work on the postern gate begins.

-  The whole of the castle's perimeter reaches 3 metres in height.

2003 – The groin vault

Assembling centring for the groin vault

Work on the postern gate continues with the building of its steeply battered roof.

-  The woodcutters and carpenters build the centring to support the masonry of the groin vault in the great tower's cellar.

-  The great tower's basement groin vault is built.

-  The carpenters build 2 "squirrel cages" (treadmill cranes).

-  Construction, in the forest, of the dyer's hut: a timber-framed house with wattle and daub walls and an oak-shingled roof.

2004 – Home on the range

Early masonry on the north range

In the courtyard, work on the north range gets underway.  On the ground floor are the kitchen - which will later be fitted with a bread oven - and a large storeroom, which will serve as a larder. 

-  During this season, the workers build up the south face of the north range and the eastern gable wall by a cubit (50cm).

-  The first steps of the external stairs - le grand degré - leading to the north range's first floor are built. 

-  Work starts on the 4 doorways on the north range's ground floor.

Entrance to the great tower

-  In the great tower, the entrance - topped with a lancet arch - is built.

-  The great tower's 3 metre-thick walls are built up and 5 arrow loops are set in place.

-  The woodcutters and carpenters built 2 workshops.  The original forge, built in the opening year, was demolished and completely rebuilt.  In the forest, a workshop, with wattle and daub walls, was built for making and drying tiles.

2005 – A second cross-ribbed vault

The north range

-  Work continues on the north range: the walls are now 2 metres high.

-  The entrance to the cellar, which also forms a passage under the external stairs, is constructed; two segmented arches form the entrance.

- In the kitchen, work begins on the masonry forming the hooded fireplace.

-  The woodcutters and carpenters square off the 6 enormous oak purlins which will support the north range's first floor.

The cross-ribbed vault in the great tower

-  In the great tower, construction of the enormous sandstone cross-ribbed vault takes place: 6 ribs, 96 voussoirs and 120 tons of stone and masonry suspended above the vault!

By the autumn of 2005, the great tower reaches a 10 metre height - roughly a third of its final height.

2006 – The north range's ground floor is complete

The purlins are hoisted onto the north range's first floor

-  The north range's ground floor is finished.  The walls are 4.2 metres high.

-  In the kitchen, the fireplace and the bread oven are complete: the pyramidal hood comes up to the level of the first floor.

-  In the cellar, 3 lights (rectangular openings fitted with forged grilles) were built to allow some daylight into this vast space.

-  The grand degré (the external stair) is fitted with a handrail - a banister of moulded stones - and a 4 metre-high flight of steps.

Assembling the courtyard's lean-to

-  The north range's 6 enormous purlins - each weighing 800kg and 7m long - were hoisted onto the north range's first floor.  The masonry on the southern façade, and the northern curtain wall onto which the range is built, were left, temporarily, as a "stairway"; the purlins were then rolled up the sloping masonry, and thus hoisted onto the north range's first floor.  They were then stocked at the western end, whilst the mason-layers finished the ground floor's walls.

-  The woodcutters and carpenters built the lean-to which links the chapel tower and the north range's west gable wall.  This lean-to is completely roofed with oak shingles (wooden roof tiles).

2007 – The rise of the great hall

View of the castle in 2007 © F. Folcher

-  The beams were distributed above the range's ground-floor.   Temporary floorboards were fitted, to allow building work to continue and to provide access for visitors.

-  The north range's first floor gets underway.  The first floor will house the great hall - the aula - and an antechamber.  Four limestone two-light windows will be set in the southern façade, and a further one on the western gable end.

-  Work begins on the small antechamber at the far end of the great hall.  Built over the kitchen, the masonry on the western gable wall was built and the first two-light window was installed.

View of the great tower

-  The walls of the north range grew by 50cm and the great hall's 4 two-light windows were laid out.

-  On the great tower, work continued on the mural-stair which leads to the tower's first floor.

-  The walls of the great tower are now at floor level on the first storey.

2008 – Raising the roof timbers

View of the north range at the end of september

-  The walls of the great hall grow.  The masonry of the 4 two-light windows is completed; the window on the west gable is pierced with a sculpted quatrefoil.  The great hall's entrance and the door onto the northern curtain wall's wall-walk are built.  Work starts on the fireplace.

-  In the antechamber, the masonry of the load-bearing partition wall, separating the antechamber and the great hall, is started; as is the antechamber's fireplace and the door leading into the aula.  The masonry on the east gable is finished in readiness for the fitting of the first roof truss.

the carpenters assembled the first roof timbers

-  At the end of the 2008 season, the carpenters assembled the first roof timbers.  In total there will be 47 oak trusses.  In 2008, the rafters of the 9 trusses above the antechamber were assembled; battens were fixed in place and the tiles were positioned.

-  On the northern curtain wall, work began on the crenellated wall-walk.  The corbelling of the garderobe, on the castle's north side, was constructed.

-  On the great tower, in the first floor lord's chamber, the walls grew by 1m; a start was made on the stone window seat and the fireplace.

2009 – THE FIRST FIREPLACES ARE IN SERVICE

Fireplace in the antechamber

- In the north range, the load-bearing partition wall - separating the great hall from its antechamber - was built.  The antechamber's fireplace – hood, flue and chimney stack – was built. The kitchen's flue and chimney stack were also built. The carpenters hewed, assembled and raised two more bays of roof timbers above the great hall. At the close of the season, a bay was covered with the tiles made and fired by the tilers. 

-On the wall walk, work continued on three more crenels. The carpenters made the wooden structure which covers the passage linking the great tower and the wall walk.  

Building the pointed arched window

- On the great tower, work began on the masonry of the window seats and the pointed arched window itself. A team of masons worked on the doorway and corridor which leads onto the wall walk. Decorative strap hinges, forged by the site's blacksmiths, were fixed to the door. The chamber's 1^st loop and garderobe were completed.

-On the east curtain wall, the work of building up the wall against the great tower, on hold since 2005, began again in 2009.

2010 – THE NORTH RANGE'S ROOF TIMBERS ARE ALL IN PLACE

Work on the vault begins

- On the great tower, work began on the construction of a cross ribbed vault which will eventually cover the lord's chamber on the first floor. The banker masons dressed the keystone and 84 voussoirs in limestone. A team of masons laid the corbels and stones from which the ribs of the vault will spring.  Meanwhile, the carpenters assembled the wooden centring which will support the vault's ribs and webbing during its construction. Work continued on the fireplace with the building of the jambs, the hewing and positioning of the oak lintel and the laying of the stones which will tie in the fireplace's hood.

The southern slope of the roof is tiled

 -On the north range, the carpenters hewed, assembled and raised the final roof timbers. The entire southern slope of the roof was covered by the close of the season. Work on the northern slope and ridge tiles was planned for the 2011 season. 

- On the east curtain wall, a team of masons brought part of the east curtain wall to 5m above the courtyard.  

The blacksmiths adjust the strapwork

 - On the great tower's ground floor, together the carpenters and blacksmiths made the door for the tower's main entrance. This door is made from cleft wood panels and is decorated with wrought iron strapwork forged on site.

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Window in the great hall

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