En un regard
Le château en bref
The Château de Jouhé, in Pioussay (Deux-Sèvres), originated as a fief mentioned as early as 1124. The Turpin family owned it for several centuries, among them Guillaume Turpin, who took part in a crusade led by Louis IX. In 1685, Jacques Turpin sold the estate to Jean de Londeix for 20,000 livres; it then passed to François Chabot around 1730, and later to the Talonneau, Barny de Romanet, Terrasson and Simon families. The keep, about 30 metres high, dates from the late 15th or early 16th century and has a gallery adorned with crenellations and machicolations; lacking arrow slits, it stands out for its many Renaissance-inspired decorative features, and its dormer windows bear the arms of the Turpin family, “azure, three bezants or”. The main residence was rebuilt in the first half of the 16th century; a round tower with a conical roof survives at the rear of the building. The keep was listed (classé) as a historic monument by decree of 18 November 1999. Privately owned, the château is not open to visitors and can only be seen from the departmental road D112.