Saint Martin's Church

The village of Château lies 5 km west of Cluny. The church, dedicated to Saint-Martin, is isolated above the village, on the Montagne de la Garenne, at the end of a spur accessible by a narrow path leading to the cemetery and the former presbytery. The building, a former castral chapel, had become too small and was almost completely rebuilt in 1848 (transept and apse). Only the nave remained.
To the north of the church, the 20-metre-high keep of the castle became the bell tower of the new church, to which it was attached. This massive tower is the last vestige of a fortified house. At the end of the 9th century, Louis the Beguiled, King of the Franks (846-879), gave ownership of it to the canons of Saint Vincent's cathedral in Mâcon.