Loches

▪ France

      town, Indre-et-Loire département, Centre région, west-central France, southeast of Tours, on the left bank of the Indre River. The town is dominated by the medieval citadel, which is surrounded by 1.5 mi (2 km) of old walls. It embraces three separate buildings: the Royal Lodge (mainly 15th century), the Collégiale Saint-Ours (10th–11th century), and a ruined fortress with an 11th-century keep and a 15th-century tower cut into the rock. Fortified in the 6th century, Loches was fought over by the French and English during the 12th and 13th centuries. It became a royal residence and a state prison in the 15th century, when Louis XI imprisoned his enemies there in iron cages. Today it is a small market town for the surrounding rural region and is a tourist centre. Small, traditional industries such as pottery making coexist with more-modern manufactures, including electronics and automobile equipment. Pop. (1999) 6,328; (2005 est.) 6,370.

* * *