Located in the midst of a large wood stands the Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers a former stronghold of the illustrious Bauçay family, lords of Loudun.
The stronghold dates to the thirteenth century and was originally called Motte Bauçay (or Baussay). The Motte Baussay was taken twice by the English in the middle ages and devastated during the French Revolution.
It was bought in 1809 by François Hennecart, a wealthy businessman who undertook to restore its former glory. But it passed in 1857 to Baron Joseph Lejeune.
In 1932, a major fire destroyed most of the buildings in the castle. It has been abandoned ever since.
She’s a sleeping beauty situated in the midst of a large wood, surrounded by a medieval moat in the town of Les Trois-Moutiers in the Poitou-Charentes region of France. There’s something distinctly magical about it, not its size or grandeur, because there are bigger and bolder chateau designs out there, but this place has that ability to inspire a thousand stories, to feed the imagination and ignite the flames of an inexplicable nostalgia…
These days it seems like castles only exist in storybooks and Disney movies. What happened to the foreboding dwellings of our wealthiest ancestors? The truth of the matter is, while there are still many castles in Europe and a few in the United States, many have fallen into disrepair and ruin over time. However, in the Poitou-Charentes region of France, a group of preservationists are trying to save a 13th century castle that is slowly being reclaimed by nature. The story behind the abandoned property is just as fascinating as what’s left standing today.
