Barraud Tower, the defensive walls

The “tour Barraud” is the only surviving remnant of the town’s defensive walls. It would have been part of a long wall, with three gateways and various towers, which encircled and protected the town of Payerne in the late Middle Ages and throughout the Ancien Régime period. Although first and foremost a defensive structure, the walls were also an important status symbol and a display of solidarity to the outside world. Indeed, fragments of these walls can be found in some of the town’s more modern buildings.