Spain, Hyspaniae, Spain : The oldest names of Epannes, located on the ancient roads from Saintes to Angers and from Saintes to Poitiers, suggest that the Spaniards were not strangers to its foundation. Perhaps Iberian legionnaires at the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul whose village would have been an ancient military station? The small rural commune, the smallest in the canton of Frontenay, is located near Saintonge, Aunis and Poitou, between Niort and La Rochelle. Returning from a crusade led by Saint Louis, Robert de Béchillon is crowned a knight and receives the stronghold of Epannes as a reward for his bravery. Subsequently, several families succeeded at the head of the lordship. In 1853, Louis-Jules de Cugnac buy it back castle which was rebuilt in 18th century, it is said, with the stones of the neighboring manor, the Aitz castle disappeared after the Revolution. Nestled in the Courance Valley and field of meadows and poplars,Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church watches over the peace of his flock.
What to see in Epannes?
01. Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church
The parish came under the archpriest of Mauzé and its cure was at the appointment of the abbey of Nouaillé. The medieval church was restored in the 16th century, then partly rebuilt in 1868. Its right bedside is pierced by a window of flamboyant gothic style and its square bell tower, without opening and fortified in its upper part, rests on a dome with pendants. Its three bells (Joséphine, Victoire and Madeleine), cast by G. Baullée d'Orléans, were baptized in 1890. The Hosannière cross of the cemetery known as a gyratory (possibility of changing the sculpted face by turning it) dates from the beginning of the 17th century and is the work of a local stonemason (naive representation of Christ on the reverse and a silhouette of a woman dressed and hairstyle the fashion of the time, holding an urn and representing the patron saint of the church). It is placed on a low pedestal following the disappearance of its shaft and the initials GBM (Guillaume Boucault, parish priest at that time) are engraved on it.
Other curiosities to see:
- The castle of Cugnac from the 18th century (private)
- Commons from 1632 and dovecote from 1693 (1062 bowls)
- The Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine from the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries
- Hosannière cross from the 17th century called a gyratory in the cemetery
- (possibility of changing the sculpted face by turning it)
- The old water mill
- The mobile floor wash house 1912
- The communal bread oven
- The Courance diversion reach crossing the town
- The body of water
- The old chambers (marshes formerly cultivated in hemp fields – hemp fields)
