Château d'Harcourt

Château d'Harcourt, built between the 13th and 15th centuries, is the best-preserved castle in Chauvigny.

In the 13th century, a member of the noble Norman Harcourt family married the Viscountess of Châtellerault, who owned the estate. The castle remained in the Harcourt family for two centuries before being acquired by the Bishops of Poitiers in 1447.

The nearly rectangular fortress has high curtain walls, originally crenellated, with solid cylindrical towers. Measuring 38 by 25 meters, the enclosure dates from the 13th century. The entrance is protected by a gatehouse with a murder hole and a portcullis, but no drawbridge. The rectangular keep, with flat buttresses, was renovated in the 14th century. The ground floor contains a vaulted prison, still in use in the 19th century, with a door mechanism allowing one entrance to block another.

Attached to the keep, the heavily altered residence now hosts exhibition spaces.

Address
Rue Saint-Pierre 86, Chauvigny, France

Established
13th century