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Fort Louvois was built between 1691 and 1694, during the reign of Louis XIV, on the Chapus islet, and is about 400 metres offshore in the town of Bourcefranc-le-Chapus in the department of Charente-Maritime. The fort sits opposite the citadel of Château d'Oléron on the island of Oléron. The fort was positioned so that a crossfire from the château and the fort would control the Pertuis de Maumusson (Passage of Maumusson) and impede access to the Rochefort roads from the south.
In 1755 Fort Louvois saw modifications that were intended to keep pace with advances in weaponry. One result was the reduction in the number of embrasures for artillery to ten from the original 16. The battery lost its roof, and the fort also received latrines on the walls. These were the last modifications to the fort.
In 1824 the fort was armed with four 24-pounder guns and three 32-pounder mortars. Then in 1870 it received six 22-pounder howitzers. The fort was repaired in 1875 to undo damage from the action of the sea. At that time it received a telegraph station and six 16-pounder guns.
After the First World War, the French military abandoned the fort. Fort Louvois only saw action towards the end of World War II when bombardment greatly damaged the fort, necessitating later restoration.
Since 1972 the fort has been the site of a museum of oyster farming, and there are oyster beds next to the causeway that joins the fort to the shore. The fort also houses a permanent exhibition that describes the history of the fort and that contains models of fortifications on the Charente coast. During the summer a shuttle boat that operates during high tide takes visitors to the fort; at low tide the fort is accessible via a causeway.
References:Doune Castle was originally built in the thirteenth century, then probably damaged in the Scottish Wars of Independence, before being rebuilt in its present form in the late 14th century by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340–1420), the son of King Robert II of Scots, and Regent of Scotland from 1388 until his death. Duke Robert"s stronghold has survived relatively unchanged and complete, and the whole castle was traditionally thought of as the result of a single period of construction at this time. The castle passed to the crown in 1425, when Albany"s son was executed, and was used as a royal hunting lodge and dower house.
In the later 16th century, Doune became the property of the Earls of Moray. The castle saw military action during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Glencairn"s rising in the mid-17th century, and during the Jacobite risings of the late 17th century and 18th century.