Route details
Description
Your itinerary
Step 1: Mill house
Unique and exceptional heritage site in the heart of the Autise valley. It is in the small characterful town of Nieul-sur-l'Autise that the wheel of its mill comes into operation. This built complex – made up of a barn with a bread oven, a water mill capable of producing flour and a dwelling house – dates from 1728. In 2017, major works rehabilitation, upgrading and new museographic developments were undertaken by the Community of Communes Vendée Sèvre Autise thanks to the advice and support of the Vendée department, the Marais Poitevin Natural Park and the Gueurnivelles association. The route lengthens and is accompanied by a sound walk. Visitors are drawn into a fiction which, using modern scenographic means, immerses them in the history of the beginning of the XNUMXth century and the world of milling up to the present day.
Step 2: Nieul Abbey on the Autize
Built in 1068 at the request of the Lord of Vouvant and thanks to donations from the Dukes of Aquitaine. Welcomed Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1141. The abbey was granted the status of royal abbey and experienced a period of prosperity. Uniting with the abbeys of Maillezais, Saint-Michel-en-l'Herm, Saint-Maixent and l'Absie, the monks of Nieul undertook a campaign to develop the Marais. The Wars of Religion very quickly caused its ruin. The abbey is gradually abandoned, monastic life disappears there. Following the French Revolution, land and buildings were sold as National Property. In 1968, the Vendée Departmental Council bought the abbey and then launched a restoration and development project. The abbey remains to this day one of the most precious witnesses of the Lower Poitevin religious heritage.
Step 3: Maillezais Abbey
Discover the builders of cathedrals, in the heart of majestic remains brought to life by the Department of Vendée. Fortress, abbey then cathedral, Maillezais developed over the centuries to become a powerful religious, economic and artistic center which attracted figures like Agrippa d'Aubigné and Rabelais. The ruins of this architectural ensemble stand on an island overlooking the Marais Poitevin.
Overlooking the canals dug by the monks, the inn, the cloister, the underground reserves and the church bear witness to a rich history.
Have fun with the family: In search of the relics of St Rigomer, adventure notebooks.
Summer shows: Rabelais, the extraordinary. A monk with a passion for the Reformation, he intended to build an ideal work.
The sailor of the marsh: Coming from the future, Marin tells you the story of this environment rich in great biodiversity.
Step 4: Sazay Castle
Private property. Dating from 1820-27, built on an old medieval fortress which was used in the fight against the Protestants of La Rochelle and Saint-Jean-d'Angély. Rectangular dwelling with low wings set at right angles, two pavilions and a low horseshoe fence. A farm was built as well as a dovecote. Style adopted: neo-classicism: five bays of regular and rectangular bays, a central avant-corps under a triangular pediment, a dentil cornice, horizontal band between two levels, door framed by pilasters, ironwork railing. The garden side has a peristyle with two columns supporting a balcony, a frame with a fess around the bays and a drip edge on each of them. Inside, the original arrangements remain. Conservation of their decorated fireplaces, plaster ceilings and some woodwork.
Step 5: Port of Mauzé
The lord of Mauzé "had land cut off" in 1315 to create a port. In 1714, the king's engineer Claude Masse visited the port of Chaban and Mauzé which was threatened with ruin. A canal project was examined in 1808 by Napoleon I. From 1 to 1843, the Mignon canal was developed from the Bazoin lock to the port of Gueux (near Sazay), then extended from 45 to 1880 to Mauzé to connect the commune to the sea via the Sèvre Niortaise and allow the transport of goods by barge. Quickly competing with rail, then road, the largest port in Green Venice was soon abandoned. In 83, it was rehabilitated as part of the Grands Travaux du Marais Poitevin, but remains inaccessible to boats since the canal is currently navigable from Bazoin to a little upstream of La Grève-s.-le-Mignon.
Step 6: Saint Pierre Church in Mauzé sur le Mignon
Built around 1080, the church was burned down by Protestants in 1568. It was rebuilt in 1683-1684. The church had belonged to the diocese of Saintes, and from 1648 to the diocese of La Rochelle. Since 1802 Mauzé has been attached to the diocese of Poitiers.
Step 7: Statue of René Caillé
Bronze bust erected in honor of the explorer René Caillié (1799-1838), the first to return from Timbuktu, considered the first "Africanist": respectful of the men and civilizations he encountered, he denounces the slavery and the condition of women.
Step 8: Surgères Castle
The medieval castle has been modified several times according to the wishes of its owners, from the Maingots to the present day. The Maingot are the first lords to inhabit this house, they play a political role throughout their domination. In the 24th century, the castle had 1832 towers identical to that of the “Hélène Tower”. The enclosure built in the 1856th century still remains. It protects XNUMXth century manorial buildings as well as the Notre-Dame Church. The XNUMXth century castle was built by François de la Rochefoucauld, younger son of Charles François, Marquis of Surgères. The year XNUMX marked the end of the dynasty of the lords of Surgères, the castle was purchased by Barron Couppé. It was then sold to the town of Surgères in XNUMX.
Step 9: The Renaissance Door
This construction dates from the 17th century. However, the decoration is borrowed from the 16th century. This door is intended to mark the entrance to the private domain of the castle. It also marks a break with the religious domain. Originally, a semi-circular carriage entrance was located with a pedestrian door, also semi-circular, to its right. The construction of the left door is much more recent. Its name "Renaissance" is due to the elegance of its decoration: fluted columns, acanthus leaf clasps, molded arches, palmettes of the cornices, the entablature of bovine skulls (bucranes) decorated with tasseled cords.
Step 10: The Helen Tower
Symbol of the town of Surgères, the tower was named “Tour Hélène”, in homage to Hélène de Fonsèque. Daughter of the Lord of Surgères, Hélène, intelligent and cultured, frequented the salon of the Maréchale de Retz where the poets of the time gathered, including Ronsard. Attracted by her spirit, he made her his muse. He wrote the “Sonnet for Hélène” for her. Demoiselle daughter of Queen Catherine de Medici, upon the latter's death, Hélène returned to Surgères where she had a hospice built. She died in her castle on January 15, 1618, at the age of 72. The tower is a vestige of the important stone stately home built in the XNUMXth century. At this time, the Lords of Surgères, rich and powerful, replaced the fragile and dilapidated wooden keep with a dwelling which extended from the Hélène tower to the wall at the back of the park.
Step 11: Notre-Dame Church
In the 100th century, Hugues Maingot had Notre-Dame-de-Surgères built, under the supervision of the Abbots of Vendôme. Both the interior and exterior are a masterpiece of Saintongeais and Aunisien Romanesque art. The fortress, of which only the ramparts remain today, was built in the XNUMXth century. In the XNUMXth-XNUMXth centuries, the Castle and the Church experienced destruction and reconstruction in step with the hazards of the Hundred Years' War. The crypt of the Notre-Dame Church contained the tombs of the former lords of the Château de Surgères. During the French Revolution the tombs were ransacked.
Step 12: The porch
It provides direct access to the historic site of Surgères. Dating from the 2014th century, it is one of the remains of the fortress. The porch, the main access route to the castle, is made up of a carriage entrance and a double drawbridge reconstructed in 2. Previously, all that remained were the vertical cells where the lifting beams of the decks were housed. of the XNUMX parts of the bridge. The pedestrian entrance is now walled up but still has its large nailed door, probably dating from the XNUMXth century. Above the porch, a guardhouse is topped with a four-sided slate roof. To the right of the guardhouse, a small walled door opens onto the remains of a guard walk. To the left of the carriage entrance, three small doors were to give access to the dungeons, as well as to an external staircase providing access to the guardroom.