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Origin and history

The St. Lawrence church of Saint-Simon-de-Pellouaille, originally dedicated to Saint Simon or Saint Sigismund in the 11th century, was placed under the name of Saint Laurent around 1263, under the episcopate of Pontius III in Saintes. This definitive change occurred in the 19th century. The building, Romanesque architecture, preserves a typically Saintongese facade decorated with a four-piece portal and carved capitals, surmounted by a seven-archature gallery and a triangular pediment. Its dachivolt decorations are inspired by the Byzantine style, while its bell tower, originally square, was remodeled in octagonal form after the Middle Ages, with an upper part rebuilt in the seventeenth century.

Inside, the church housed a dome on trunks at the entrance to the bell tower, as well as an octagonal bentier carved in a column summer. A seigneurial house, built in 1634 by the families of Pellouaille and Beaumont, was attached to the bedside. The building, partially destroyed by fire, lost its original vault and apse. The Romanesque door, narrowed in the 15th to 16th centuries by tricks and a prismatic archvolt, bears witness to the transformations undergone. Ranked a historical monument in 1923, the church illustrates the architectural and religious evolution of the Saintonge, between medieval heritage and Renaissance additions.

The facade, reinforced by columns committed to the corners, presents a vegetal decoration on the capitals of the first entablement. Above, seven ogival openings (the columns of which have disappeared) precede a 17th century pediment. The bell tower, backed by the north wall, has arches between its entanglements and a talute upper part. Despite the destructions of the 20th century, the church remains a remarkable example of Saintonge's Romanesque heritage, marked by Byzantine influences and post-medieval changes.

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