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Origin and history

The Château d'Ordières, located in Benest in Charente (New Aquitaine), is an emblematic monument combining medieval architecture and Renaissance. Its history begins in the 14th century, when the fief belonged to the family of La Rochefoucauld, with a cylindrical dungeon 9 meters in diameter and walls 2 meters thick, crowned with mâchicoulis. This dungeon, probably built in the late 14th or early 15th century, served as a defensive heart to a fortress surrounded by two enclosures and moat, with the exception of the east side.

In the 16th century, the fief passed into the hands of the Pastoureau family. Geoffroy Pastoureau became lord in 1530, and his descendant Abel Pastoureau began the construction of the central house between 1605 and 1617. This Renaissance-style house replaces a dungeon-backed old building and incorporates classic elements such as sled windows and a polygonal staircase tower surmounted by a steeple. The coat of arms of the Pastoureau, carved above the door and supported by claws, testify to their influence.

The castle remained in the Pastoureau family until the marriage of an heiress to Pierre de Monéïs, and was preserved by this line until the French Revolution. Sold as national property in 1792, it was acquired by Jean-Baptiste Grellier, bailiff at Confolens. The architectural complex, partially listed as a historical monument in 1989, also includes agricultural outbuildings (bergery, barn, dovecote) and a hydraulic system with ponds and ponds, built in 1604. Minor modifications occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the castle retained its original defensive and residential character.

The tower-donjon, the oldest element, has four levels: a vaulted ground floor in dome without external opening, square floors with fireplaces, and partially disappeared mâchicoulis. The house, on the other hand, illustrates the transition between the gothic (sleeping bays) and the Renaissance (pilasters). Nine chimneys of the early 17th century and two of the 16th century remain inside, recalling the successive phases of construction.

The Château d'Ordières thus embodies the architectural and social evolution of a fief poitevin, passed from the hands of medieval lords (La Rochefoucauld) to an Earth nobility (Pastoureau, Monéïs), before becoming a public good and then private. Its partial inscription as a historical monument in 1989 protects the southeast tower, the facades of the north buildings and the defensive elements, preserving this testimony of the 15th and 17th centuries.

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