En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de Bignay, in Charente-Maritime, dates back to the 15th century; the lands of Bignay were granted to Jeanne de Beaumont in 1385, and homage was paid to the Duke of Guyenne in 1415. In 1439, Marie de Parthenay-Larchevêque married Jean Mérichon; in 1490, Olivier Mérichon paid homage to the Count of Taillebourg. The estate then passed to the families du Bellay, Chaumont, Le Coigneux and then Lastre, before being sold in 1807 to Cabaud-Desnobles and Giron; the heirs of Alphonse Texier transformed it in the mid-19th century. The main 15th-century vestige is a pentagonal stair tower with a slate roof at the eastern end; the entrance door, adorned with pinnacles, is badly damaged, and a square tower defended on three sides by bretèches flanks the south-west corner, while another residential wing retains 16th-century windows on a partly burnt original building. A private property, it cannot be visited.