Château de Poncenat

En un regard

Le château en bref

Château de Poncenat is located in the commune of Montaigu-le-Blin, in the Allier department, south-west of the village, on a terraced motte formerly surrounded by marshes and ponds. A first fortress was built there at the end of the 13th century; in the 14th century the estate passed by marriage to the Boucé family, one of whose members, François de Boucé, died during the Wars of Religion in 1568. Having fallen into ruin in the 16th century, the castle was sold in 1632 to Balthazar Bayle, the new baron of Poncenat, who had it rebuilt in the 17th century. The estate then passed by marriage to the de Maubranches family in 1730, before being sold to François Senetaire du Buysson in 1745. Looted, and its owner held captive, during the revolutionary unrest of 1791–1792, the building was subsequently dismantled. Restored at the end of the 20th century, it now retains a semicircular tower pierced by a cross-mullioned window, a defensive flanking tower and sections of the entrance porch, as well as an angular rampart more reminiscent of a Vauban-style bastion than of a medieval fortress. A private property converted into a dwelling, the site can be viewed freely and at no cost from the road, but the interior is not open to visitors.