Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château du Pressoir is a small medieval building located in Mauze-Thouarsais (Deux-Sèvres), whose oldest elements date back to the 12th and 13th centuries, with marked transformations in the 15th century. It has typical architectural features of these periods, such as a curved hooded chimney, a chapel in the upper part of the house, and a fortified dovecote built into the defenses. These elements reflect its evolution between residential, agricultural (housework transformed into a farm) and defensive, with remains of walls, towers and darchères still visible.

The current structure includes an inner courtyard surrounded by buildings, including a main house body and outbuildings partially built on an underground cut into the rock. To the east, ruins of walls and, to the south, vestiges of enclosures with archeries remind its defensive past. A terrace to the west, overlooking the valley, once housed defences including a square tower serving as a pigeon tree, probably dated the 12th–13th centuries. The whole, including the surrounding parcels, was listed as historical monuments by order of 15 December 2014, highlighting its heritage value.

The site illustrates the adaptation of medieval castles to local needs, combining seigneurial habitat, farming and protection systems. Its fortified dovecote, a rare and well preserved element, bears witness to the symbolic and practical importance of these structures in the rural economy of the Middle Ages. The successive transformations, notably the re-use of the house as a farm, reflect the social and economic changes of the region, from feudalism to modern times.

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