Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The castle of Cramahé came into being in 1518 when the Duchess of Longueville erected the land as a fief for Pierre Chasteigner, Protestant mayor of La Rochelle. This fief, confirmed in 1539, remained in the Chasteigner family until the revocation of the edict of Nantes (1685), when Roc Chasteigner emigrated. The estate then moved to collaterals, then to Henriette-Céleste de Béjarry, married to Pierre-Louis Green de Saint-Marsault, before being assigned in 1739 to Jean-Baptiste Gayot de Mascrany, major d'Oléron.

In 1753, Gayot de Mascrany had the old house shaved, deemed old, and ordered the entrepreneur Samuel Lemit a new, more modern castle. The estate, including vineyards, woods and ploughable land, was transferred in 1764 to his son, Joachim-François-Bernard-Paul Gayot. After several successive sales (1807 to Garros, 1811 to the Harouard family), in 1828 it fell to Marie-Suzanne-Joséphine Harouard, whose family arms still adorn the facade.

The portal and facades of the castle, representative of 18th century civil architecture in Aunis, have been protected as historical monuments since 23 February 1925. The estate, once spread over 159 hectares (vignes, marshes, woods), illustrates the evolution of local elites, between Protestant nobility, royal officers and post-revolutionary landowners.

The history of the castle reflects the religious and political upheavals of the region: from the anomaly of a Huguenot family (Chasteigner) to its decline after 1685, then to the reconversion of the estate by Catholic families (Green, Gayot, Harouard). The preserved architectural elements, such as the entrance gate or carved coats of arms, bear witness to these transitions.

The sources of the 19th century (Chasseboeuf, Colle) underline its role in the rural landscape of Saintonge, between farming and seigneurial residence. Today, the castle, still located north-west of the town of Salles-sur-Mer, remains a notable example of the adaptation of local elites to the economic and social changes between the old regime and modern times.

External links