Château de Cherveux

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Château de Cherveux (Deux-Sèvres), listed as a historic monument since 16 September 1929, occupies the site of an early castle motte mentioned in 1100 as a dependency of the Abbey of Saint-Maixent, which became a fortress under the Lusignans. Confiscated in 1242 by Saint Louis from Hugh X of Lusignan, it passed through the Mello, Craon and Chalons families before being occupied by the English from 1363 to 1369. Around 1470, Robert Cunningham, a Scottish captain of the royal guard, rebuilt it in a single campaign in its present form. It then belonged to the Puyguyon, Saint-Gelais, Plessis-Chatillon and later Narbonne-Pelet families, before being acquired after the Revolution by Pierre Allonneau, then by the Clouzot-Meynier family until 1931, and then by Lucien Redien. It now belongs to Mr and Mrs Eckel. Built on an irregular pentagonal plan surrounded by water-filled moats, the château features a massive keep with redans and carved machicolations, two tall hexagonal stair towers, a dormer window decorated with birds, angels and foliage, and a main residential wing with an "upturned boat" roof frame. A building set against the gateway now houses guest rooms.