Les Tours de Guet

 Génos tower

 During the troubles of the 9th and 10th centuries, the valley of Louron was turned upside down, and plundered by the Saracens. The watch towers built in this time of the middle ages as lookouts at first were then used to resist the attacks of the Moors. The most important being those of Bordères Louron, Estarvielle and Génos . These towers could be incorporated in a castle or simply enclosed by a wall. All such structures had one single entrance which led to a building with a vaulted ceiling. This vault was pierced by a hole by which one could gain, by the aid of a simple ladder, the upper story.

The Génos tower is built at the bottle neck of the valley beside the slate quarries. It, therefore, looks to the south, watching the outlet of the Clarabide gorge and the Pez valley and warning the other towers of danger by means of 3 signals; rhythmic hammering of wooden drums, signal fires and carrier pigeons. Some people also say that there was an underground passage joining the Génos tower to the tower at Moulor…

  Moulor tower

The castle of Moulor was built in the 12th century. The fiefdom was comprised of the communes of Germ, Loudervielle, Armenteule and Aranvielle and a few pieces of land in the Larboust, the next valley.

The keep and the adjoining chapel were the lodgings of the seigneurs de Montlour, vassals to the Spanish Barons of Montespan. In 1540, Dominique de Montlour gave a tribute to the castle in the form of 2 houses and 4 granges. (cf Indicateur du Patrimoine de la Vallée du Louron par Pierre-Yves Corbel, Aurel Bonjiu , Sylvie Decottignies, Olivier Renaudeau).

The last members of the family of the Seigneurs de Moulor who lived in the castle were killed in 1753 and 1754.