Château de Chouvigny

En un regard

Le château en bref

Château de Chouvigny stands in Givarlais, a former commune now part of Haut-Bocage, in the Allier department. A castral motte is mentioned there as early as 1370, and the existence of a keep is documented in 1527, attesting to a medieval seigneurial occupation. As early as 1292, the deans and canons of Hérisson had sold the taxes (tailles) of Chouvigny to the Count of Clermont. Around 1632, M. de Favières had a gentilhommière (small manor house) built and the chapel rebuilt; the chapel is dated to 1636 by the listing notice. In 1679, Antoine de Favières drew up a new land register (livre terrier) for the estate. The present building, laid out in a U-shape around a courtyard, has a 17th-century façade pierced by an entrance door surmounted by a glazed transom; it retains partially surviving water-filled moats. The façades and roofs, an alcove bedchamber with wood-panelled decoration, the chapel and the water-filled moat are listed as historic monuments by order of 26 November 1990. Still privately owned, the château is not known to be open to the public.