San Peder Castle

Geschichte

San Peder Castle is a ruined stone tower and a ruined church in the former municipality of Sent (now Scuol) of the Canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.HistoryNothing is known about the castle and church complex from historical records. Chuno and Egino de Sancto Petro are mentioned in 1139 as is Conradus de Sancto Petro in 1274, but the name may not refer to this castle. The Lord of Sent appears as a vassal of the Bishop of Chur around 1160, but is never listed as patron of the church or owner of the castle. Based on the design and construction, the Romanesque church of St. Peter (San Peder) was probably built in the 12th century.The bell tower of the church looks like a medieval watchtower with the bells added on top. Its construction also indicates that it was probably built as a defensive tower. The walls are 2.2m thick at the bottom, tapering to 1m at the top and five stories tall. On the north wall at the fifth story there appears to be a bricked over high entrance, which was a common feature of defensive towers. However, there is no sign that the tower was regularly inhabited.During an excavation in 1937 the larger tower south of the church was discovered. This tower measured 12x and the walls were up to 2.3m thick. This tower was built on the foundation of an earlier building, probably in the 13th century. It was then abandoned about a century later. The large tower, the bell tower and church may have been surrounded by a wall making San Peder a fortified church.