Vieux château · Photo: Père Igor · CC BY-SA 3.06 historic monuments, the oldest from prehistory
The Culture ministry lists 6 historic monuments in Montbron: 3 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 3 inscrit (the second level). That’s 30 for every 10,000 residents; the median compared French town has 2.5. We have photos of 6 of them.
median compared town 2.5
Montbron in 6 photos
Nearly every classé monument, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Grotte de FontechevadeClassé
Église Saint-MauriceClassé
Château de ChabrotInscrit
Château de MenetInscrit
Château de FerrièresInscrit+1See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.
How old Montbron’s monuments are
Each monument once, by the oldest part the list dates.
4 of 6 dated monuments have parts from before 1500. The oldest dated: Grotte de Fontechevade (Prehistory).
Where Montbron’s monuments stand
Every monument with a point on the ministry’s list; the larger, darker dots are classé.
Tap a dot to open the monument’s page: its record, photo and the monuments around it.
Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point.
3 classé monuments in Montbron
Classé is France’s highest protection for a building, held by about a third of the monuments on the list. 1 of the 3 is protected in part only (a façade, a roof, a room). Each card opens the monument’s page.
Classé
Classé
Classé3 inscrit monuments in Montbron
Inscrit is the second level of protection: the building is worth keeping, and any work on it must be declared.
Inscrit
Inscrit
Inscrit27% of homes in Montbron were built before 1919
Main homes by when they were finished, beside the median compared French town (the tick).
27% of its main homes were built before 1919; the median compared French town has 7.4%. More of them were finished between 1971 and 1990 than in any other period (29%).
INSEE, census 2023: main homes (résidences principales) only; second homes and empty homes aren’t dated.
Historic monuments in the towns around Montbron
| Town | Residents | Monuments | Classé | Protected area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montbron | 2,000 | 6 | 3 | — |
| La Rochefoucauld-en-Angoumois | 4,025 | 6 | 3 | Yes |
| Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure | 3,111 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Nontron Dordogne | 3,057 | 1 | 0 | Yes |
| Brie | 4,125 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Magnac-sur-Touvre | 3,255 | 1 | 1 | — |
| Ruelle-sur-Touvre | 7,408 | 2 | 0 | — |
Montbron in brief
The record in Montbron starts with Grotte de Fontechevade, which dates from prehistory. All told, the list holds 6 historic monuments, 3 of them classé. Of its homes, 27% were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town. Most of its dated monuments come from the Middle Ages: 3 of 6. The rest is about typical: most entries are houses and homes; Alphonse Aulard (1849) and Louis Alexandre Céleste Toussaint Dubreuil-Hélion de La Guéronnière (1773) were born here before 1900; and the list grew between 1862 and 1985.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Monuments historiques. France protects buildings at two levels. Classé, the higher (about a third of the list), means any work needs the State’s permission; inscrit means work must be declared to the State in advance. The Culture ministry’s Mérimée base lists every protected building, and this page counts them.
- Partly protected. Many entries protect part of a building only (its façades and roofs, a staircase, a painted room). Each counts as one monument, like a fully protected one.
- Where a monument is counted. In the commune named on its protection, moved to today’s commune where communes have since merged. A monument listed for several communes counts in each.
- Sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Since 2016 France’s protected historic areas (the former secteurs sauvegardés, ZPPAUP and AVAP) share one name. Inside one, building work follows the area’s plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
- What isn’t here. Protected objects (furniture, organs, paintings), old buildings with no protection, UNESCO World Heritage listings and labels such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” aren’t on this list, so this page doesn’t count them.
- No History Grade yet. Everything on this page is described, not graded: France’s History Grade isn’t built yet.
Questions about the history of Montbron
How many historic monuments are there in Montbron?
The Culture ministry lists 6 historic monuments in Montbron: 3 classé and 3 inscrit.
Which monuments in Montbron are classé?
3, among them Grotte de Fontechevade, Église Saint-Maurice and Vieux château.
How old are the monuments of Montbron?
The oldest parts of its listed monuments date from prehistory.
When were monuments in Montbron first protected?
The first in 1862, the latest in 1985.
How old are the homes in Montbron?
27% of its main homes were built before 1919 (median compared French town: 7.4%).
France has no History Grade yet: this page describes, it doesn’t grade.
Sources: Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée base on POP (immeubles protégés au titre des monuments historiques), October 2026 · Ministère de la Culture, sites patrimoniaux remarquables, October 2026 · INSEE, census 2023 (main homes by build period) · Wikidata and Wikipedia (people born here) · Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata (photos of the monuments, each with its own credit and license) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.