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Origin and history

The Château de la Faye, located in Deviat in Charente, has its origins in the 13th century as the seat of a seigneury spread over several parishes. During the Hundred Years' War, it served as a refuge for the local population thanks to its ramparts and moats fed by three ponds. In the 15th century Mathurin de La Touche, lord of the place by marriage with Perrette de Montendre, exercised high, medium and low justice under the suzerainety of Baron de Blanzac.

At the end of the 16th century, Jacques Goulard married Françoise de La Touche, heir of the estate. In 1726 Jean Goulard, the last direct heir, bequeathed La Faye to his cousin Jeanne Souchet, Countess of Saint-Simon. His son, Louis-Gabriel de Saint-Simon, and his wife Jacquette Pineau de Viennay had the feudal castle shaved at the beginning of the 18th century to build the present body of mansardous houses, marking a transition to a more modern home.

During the Revolution, the family of Saint-Simon emigrated, and the castle was sold in 1809 to M. Périer, notary at Blanzac. In the 19th century, the chapel, the commons and the stables were destroyed, while interior and exterior developments (ally of chestnut trees, sleds to windows) transformed the site. The castle, saved from its abandonment in 1990, was listed in the Historical Monuments in 1992 for its facades and roofs, testifying to its architectural evolution between the Middle Ages and the classical era.

Today's architecture combines a 17th-century house body remodeled in the 19th century, with a mansard roof and triangular pediment windows, and a wing in return from the 16th century to 15th-century gables. Access is via a two arched bridge crossing the dry moat leading to an esplanade. The lintel of the door is decorated with a female head engraved with the inscription "HOSPITI", recalling its hospital past.

The estate, initially lined with walls and towers, was organized around a circular ground of 50 meters in diameter. The successive transformations, including the destruction of ancillary buildings and the creation of a garden in the 19th century, have changed its appearance while preserving medieval elements such as old kitchens or door windows. Today, the castle illustrates the adaptation of a feudal seigneury in aristocratic residence, then in preserved heritage.

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