Timeline

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Key figures

Origin and history

The present Roissac castle was built in 1770 at the initiative of Joseph de Beauchamp, on the site of an old Gallo-Roman villa, then of a medieval seigneurial house belonging to the Rochefoucauld. This site, originally linked to Angoumois County, was the subject of a transaction in 1231 between Hugues X de Lusignan (Angoulême County) and Itier II de Barbezieux, exchanging Merpins' chestnutry against the seigneuries of Roissac, Marville and Gensac. The land then passed through inheritances and marriages in the hands of the Barbezieux, Pons, Mortemer, and again of the Rochefoucauld, before being acquired by Joseph de Beauchamp.

The 18th century castle, rectangular, has a symmetrical facade with two doors and five windows on the first floor, topped by a Mansart roof covered with tiles and slates. The outbuildings, rebuilt in the 19th century (especially in 1830), complete the whole. Inside, a living room retains painted panels and canvases, while a monumental fireplace and plaster mouldings adorn the rooms. The archives, partially burned in 1789, limited knowledge over certain periods.

After the Revolution, the estate changed hands several times: administered by Marie-Hyacinthe de Beauchamp and her husband François Gabriel Regnauld de la Soudière until 1804, it was sold to François Longuet, then to Louis Sauvaget in 1842. The castle, registered with the Historical Monuments in 1989, bears witness to the architectural transformations and seigneurial heritages of the region, from antiquity to modern times.

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