Its history

The cultural history is a long journey through time. In the municipal area there are settlement findings from the time of the Neolithic period. Each familiy in Caupenne owns fossils and prehistoric tools; the "Dame de Brassempouy" - the place of discovery and museum are only few miles away from Caupenne – is a sculpture which baffles one about life in the area over 22,000 years ago.

The lineage of those de Caupennes and their military defence castle situated approx. 1.5 miles outside of the future village centre are mentioned for the first time in a document in the 10th century. This first "castle" was considerably destroyed in the religious wars of 1569; in the Napoleonic land register the exact situation is still plotted.

The construction of the two churches St. Martin and St. Laurent held in the Romansque style goes back to this noble family.

The domain was raised to the baronial rank in 1225.

In 1607 the family de Cès from Doazit which close by acquired land in Caupenne; the beginning of the construction works on the "new" castle presumably goes back to 1615; in the year 1657 Bernard de Cès declared that the building of a "house" had begun ... In 1997 the castle was declared to be a "historical monument".

The de Cès-Caupennes started taking part in important functions in state and society; Baron Georges de Cès-Caupenne (born in 1874) dies in 1931; the castle was deserted for years.
The German members of the occupation forces took over the castle in 1940; in 1958 a first sale took place.

Since the year 2002 Thomas and Susan Binder are the owners and give the castle new life.