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Origin and history

The château of Crissay, located in the medieval village of Crissay-sur-Manse (Indre-et-Loire), finds its origins in the 13th century with the Turpin family, native to Vendômois. A first defensive building was built around 1200 by Guillaume Turpin, followed by extensions in the 14th century (circa 1350) with appenti buildings and an underground dating from 1308. These structures, now called common, were modified in the 16th and 18th centuries, notably by the addition of a tower of stairs and unfinished bays.

Major reconstruction took place at the end of the 15th century (circa 1495–96), initiated by Jacques Turpin after the destruction of the Hundred Years War. The present house, made of cut stone with a large room with beams painted in beef blood, was erected on the foundations of an ancient fortress. An 11th century seigneurial chapel and a 13th century dungeon remain, while an eastward extension project remains unfinished. The chapel, transformed into a barn before the Revolution, and the house, converted into a farm in the 17th century, illustrate the gradual abandonment of the site.

The castle presents archaic architectural arrangements for its time, such as a vaulted arched gallery (1507) linking the house to the western enclosure, or monumental chimneys never used. Dendrochronological analyses reveal construction campaigns between 1408 and 1510, with traces of modifications in the 16th and 18th centuries. Ranked Historic Monument in 1995, the building retains rare elements: original huisseries, tufted olive ceiling, and underground shelters dug in the rock.

The seigneury of Crissay, originally owned by Cormery Abbey (IXth century), passed into the hands of the Turpin until 1632, the date of its seizure by Michel d'Évrard. The Beauvau then the Choiseul (including César-Gabriel de Choiseul, 1st Duke of Praslin) became lords in the 17th–15th centuries. The village, classified as Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, also preserves houses from the 15th to 16th centuries and a church from 1527, testifying to its past importance.

The site, included in the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Natural Park, is vulnerable to forest fires (maximum risk) and to the withdrawal and swelling of clay soils. The remains of the castle, with their tuffed ditches and underground galleries, dominate the valley of the Manse, a tributary of Vienna, which ranks second in the fish sector. The ensemble, though partly in ruins, offers a remarkable example of military and seigneurial architecture in Touraine.

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