Château de Quinssat

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Le château en bref

Château de Quinssat is a former 14th-century fortified house located in the commune of Abrest, in the Allier department, about 2.4 km south-east of the village, overlooking the meanders of the Allier. The building consists of a main residential wing with two storeys and an attic, flanked by two square towers of unequal size, including a fine three-storey tower. Restorations carried out in the 16th century notably gave the building large mullioned windows. In 1243 the seigneury belonged to a family bearing the name Quinssat, then passed in 1354 to the brothers Oudin and Dalmas de Vichy, co-lords of the place. In the mid-15th century, Jean de Boucé received the seigneury through his marriage to Péronnelle de l'Espinasse, before the estate was sold in 1495 to Guichard d'Albon Saint-André, whose family kept it until the mid-17th century. It then passed to the de la Richardie family, holders of the rank of écuyer (squire), and was acquired in 1717 by Louis de Talaru, viscount of Chalmazel, whose family carried out major alterations in the 18th century. Confiscated during the Revolution, it was sold as national property (bien national) in 1792. Château de Quinssat remains a private property today and is not open to visitors.