LAVIT

The name of this town is first recorded in a document of 1301 in which it was styled a “Bastide”.  It was decided to protect the town with ramparts surrounding an area in which the castle was the principal site, the houses were set in the South side of the town.  Everything was built with red brick.

The “Halle” was built with the present dimensions:  a square of 30 metres side.  A wooden framework used to hold a covered roof, elevated itself by wooden pillars (posts) resting on stone pedestals.  In the middle a round tower higher than the roof was covered by a dome.  It would later display a clock.  In the North East angle a big hall was used as a communal house.  In 1894 a part of the old “Halle” fell down and the council decided to build a brand new “Halle” in the Eiffel style.

The “castle” occupied the place of the present town hall.  In 1962 some excavations discovered the width of the old ramparts: 2 metres.  The communal areas were located in the West side; in the centre a well used to provide drinking water; the keep was located to the North East.

The Lomagne Viscounts as well as the Armagnac Counts used to spend some time in this town. 

The church of St Jacques was built in 1515 and was restored at the end of the 19th century.