Le Château de Sigournais - Vendée - France
The Feudal Château of Sigournais
The “Château de Sigournais” is a listed Historic Monument - a 15th century feudal castle boasting multiple walls and seven towers. A fortress has existed on this site since the 10th century or 988 to be exact but this would have been constructed of earth and wood. It was during the 13th century that the first stone castle was constructed on the site. The current chateau however was rebuilt around 1480 by Philbert de Sainte- Flayve during the reign of King Charles VIII during a period of relative stability and prosperity following the Hundred years War.
Today on approaching the castle, one can see two drawbridges, one being a small pedestrian one which today serves as the entrance to the castle and the other which is now sealed up was originally for horses and carriages.
Click photo right to see detail
Other notable features include a magnificent keep with the roof built of herringbone timbers, enclosed ramparts with machicolations and typical arrow-slits in the restored towers.
During the Wars of the Vendée, the keep was plundered and set alight by Republican troops and following that the castle was requisitioned by the state and sold at auction in 1797.
In one of the guardrooms containing a wine press, one can see traces of the fire set by the Republican internal columns on September 15, 1793 during the Wars of the Vendée.
In the keep, one can find furnished recreations of a stately home of the period and a magnificent collection of over 600 coats of arms (from the Vendée, France and elsewhere in the European Union).
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