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Author
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Topic: Where is my castle? Can you help me find it?
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PrincessdeMerle
Member
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posted 01-05-2002 01:31 PM
  
I am searching for the castle that belonged to my ancestors! Some of them eventually immigrated to the New England area of the USA, however I have a picture of the old castle. The only info I have on it is that it was called "The de Merle Towers". With de Merle being it's occupants last name. I may be spelling that wrong. Possibly demerl, or de Merl. Not quite sure. I know in the US, the last name was later changed to Merrill. The picture I have shows a hilled or mountanous location, with two towers off to the left, and the main castle to the right. I am looking for any and all history I can get my hands on about the property, what has become of it etc. This castle should have stood (and possibly built) in the 1800's, It is late 1800's and early 1900's when the family comes over. I believe this castle is located in France somewhere. Some of our ancestry is England. But I do believe de Merle was dated back to France. Any help and info you might have would be helpful. Eventually I would like to find where this is and even visit the site! Thanks for all the help and information you may be able to provide. |
Peter
Member
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posted 01-05-2002 02:02 PM
Phew !
Lotsa stuff to take on board there.
Is there any chance of posting a picture of what you have ?
If it is French, we are struggling. And if it is a 'modern' castle, even more so. A family name does not help to much. More so if the family is widespread in the country it originated from.
When I say the family name doesn't help much, I mean from the point of few of finding a castle to suit. We would have to look at every French castle to see if that name was associated with it !
Sometimes a family could be connected with more than a dozen castles. But the opposite could occur. If it was a minor family or castle, its history might not be listed.
Don't forget, we can only find information if someone has taken the trouble to publish it, post it etc.
To give you an example, my love is Italian castles .. and at last listing, in Italy, 26,000 castle are known ! Perhaps 90% of those with no history.
So if you can give us that picture ?
Having said all that, someelse might just know the name .. and hey !
You hit the jackpot.
Will look in the meantime, but don't hold your breath.
Peter. |
duncan
Senior Member
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posted 01-05-2002 05:45 PM
Your have even less luck if it is a manor house as you said and not a castle. |
Marko
Senior Member
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posted 01-05-2002 06:56 PM
Made a little search and something came up. Don't know if this is what your after because its a castle in ruins but it sure meets all of your details.
There is a little village called Saint-Geniez-o-Merle in the Correze region in France. In that village stands the remnant of a castle named "Tours de Merle", which is french for The de Merle Towers. The castle is named after the family that inhabited it in the 11th century.
If you search for "tours du merle" on Google you'll find several links to pages containing french info and small pics of this castle.
For good measure I added one here: http://www.cg19.fr/page1230.html (the 2nd pic from topdown is Tours du Merle)
I'm curious if this is the one you're after.------------------
"But round about the castle there began to grow a hedge of thorns, which every year became higher...."
Visit my website at http://www.castles.nl/
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Peter
Member
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posted 01-06-2002 07:30 AM
Cheers Guys,
You will find I have posted a picture of the site. And, as the Princess says, two towers to the left and the main buildings to the right.
Over to you Princess ! |
PrincessdeMerle
Member
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posted 01-07-2002 12:03 PM
Thanks so much for your help! If I can post the picture here, you all will have to tell me how to do so, however, I will email it to you! I am off to check out your Google suggestions, and will keep you posted! Peter, how do I get to the picture you said you posted?[This message has been edited by PrincessdeMerle (edited 01-07-2002).] |
Gordon
unregistered
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posted 01-07-2002 12:27 PM
Click on the link to the Photo Archive at the foot of the page, and follw the instructions to submit your picture. Remember to give it plenty of time to upload the pic, lots of folks don't, wait until it tells you it's done..it can take a few minutes. You may have to compress the picture using Photo Editor or some such programme to take it below the size limit which is given during with the instructions. |
PrincessdeMerle
Member
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posted 01-07-2002 01:35 PM
Thanks! You all are great. I do believe this is my castle. I uploaded the picture that I have for you. Thanks Gordon for the how to! Check out the photo archive under "Tours de Merle" and you'll see my picture. It looks a bit "antiqued" but when compared to others on the various "Tours de Merle" websites, it's a match! Thanks again, now I'm off to research and learn more about it and its previous occupants, and my ancestors. If you have any research suggestions, I'd love to hear them. The princess is fascinated and of to do research! Thanks again. |
Peter
Member
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posted 01-07-2002 04:24 PM
My French is Rubbish .. but !
The present structure, like many, is built on a much older site.
And would have seemed to protect a crossing of the River Maromme. It also was a key player in the region during the 'Hundred Year War'. Was visited by Pope Gregory Xl; but after the 100-year war was mainly abandoned, though it had a part in the wars of Relgion which devastated it.
It would seem there were many branches of the de Merle family; some of which were the Pesteils and de Noailles. The various towers are named after these families. The de Merle tower was, I think, built by one Hugh De Merle. |
andhow5
Member
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posted 03-20-2006 09:25 PM
Hello,I know this is an old post, but I came across it when I was searching for what I was told was MY ancestral home. It may very well be that we are distantly related. By blood I am Merle. I can help with the few links that I have. I hope these help. And maybe we'll run into each other one day when we both go "home".
http://www.tourisme-argentat.com/fra_patrimoine1.html
http://www.bruno-garcia.net/www/Tours/ http://perso.wanadoo.fr/souvigne/argentuk.htm#top
http://www.st-geniez-o-merle.com/ | |
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