The town has this strange name for two reasons. In 1517, Marshal of France Pierre de Rohan, lord of Frontenay, by marrying his cousin Anne de Rohan, founded the Rohan-Rohan line. In the XNUMXth century, the barony, established as a duchy-peerage, took the name of Rohan-Rohan so as not to confuse it with that in Brittany. Located on the road to Niort in La Rochelle and mentioned for the first time in 936, the town, bordered by the Courance and the Guirande, is marked by a long tormented history. Of its castle and its double enclosure, there is only left some wrecks. Today it is pleasant to stroll through the embellished town center by the Country Union, placed under the protection of the Church of St. Peter and marked with laundries and fountains most of which demonstrate an architectural distinction that goes beyond mere functionality and stand out as true small public monuments.
What to see in Frontenay-Rohan-Rohan?
01. St. Peter's Church
Perhaps founded by the Viscountess of Thouars Aldéarde in 1099, the church is cited for the first time in 1111 in a charter of the Abbey of Nouaillé which, placed under the protection of the Counts of Poitou, named the priests of Frontenay. Ruined during the Hundred Years' Wars, it was rebuilt in the 1537th century by the successive bishops of Saintes Guy and Louis de Rochechouart (see their coat of arms on the bell tower) and, by royal authorization, the village was fortified (see the bretèche on the facade ). In 1635, the building had a bell placed today against a pillar of the nave. During the Wars of Religion, it was burned and repaired in 1903. Threatening to collapse, the bell tower-narthex was consolidated in the XNUMXth century and listed in XNUMX.
19th century stained glass windows by priest-glassmaker Constant-Auguste Boinot
Other curiosities to see:
- The port of Walnut
- The Cultural Space of the Prince’s Tower (library and exhibition hall)
- The circuit of fountains and wash houses
- The municipal park Le Grand Logis (mansion from 1782 and its outbuildings, enclosed landscaped park of 18.000 m2, three trees remarkable for their size and age, the largest weeping willow in the department, pond, covered wash house and four blockhouses dating from the Second World War)
