In the 4th century, Pezenne, a young nun, pursued by a barbarian chief, came to die, exhausted from fatigue, in a cave. It is claimed that Clovis, after 507, contributed with his donations to the elevation of a sanctuary over the tomb of the saint. The primitive church, built on the site of a temple dedicated to Thor, was rebuilt in the 11th and 12th centuries. The town, whose church is registered, merged with Niort in 1965. The district has today become a experimental site on accessibility for people with disabilities to public spaces.
What to see in Sainte-Pezenne?
01. The Sainte-Pezenne church
She's the oldest church in Niort. The original building, built on the site of a pagan temple dedicated to Thor, was rebuilt from the end of the 2003th century to the beginning of the XNUMXth century, reworked from the XNUMXth century to the XNUMXth century, then inscribed in XNUMX. At the time of the Norman invasions (XNUMXth-XNUMXth century), the nun Pezenne flees until Aquitaine his native Spain where persecution reigns. After walking for a long time with her companions Macrina and Dove, she died of exhaustion on a hillside overlooking the Sèvre Niortaise. Miraculous healings around his tomb are the origin of a very popular pilgrimage. In 1147, on the occasion of the second crusade, Eleanor of Aquitaine donated the remains to the Count of Vermandois who took them to the north of France, to Saint-Quentin. The city was taken in 1557 by the army of Philip II of Spain. The emperor gives the relic to his sister, Empress of Germany. The latter, upon her death, returns her to her country of origin. His body was placed in a chapel of the royal palace of the Escorial of Madrid. A phalanx of the nun was offered to the parish in 1955, following the zealous efforts of the archivist departmental of Deux-Sèvres, Maurice Béguin and Father Morice, priest of Sainte-Pezenne!
02. Chantemerle castle
Property of the City of Niort since 1990, the site is occupied today by a recreation center. In the 19th century, this old farm bourgeois property of 11 hectares includes a castle, an orangery, a greenhouse, outbuildings, a horse riding school, a chapel, an icehouse and land converted into a park, orchard and woods. Built on a wooded hillside overlooking the Sèvre Niortaise valley, the castle, composed of a central building with four false corner towers, is a pastiche of 17th and 18th century architecture.
03. The Château de Beure-Baillon or Burbaillon
This castle is raised in the 18th century French style by Pierre-Théophile Segrétain, first departmental architect of the Historic Monuments of Deux-Sèvres. It belonged to Louis Arnauldet, friend of Segrétain, president of the civil court of Niort, municipal councilor of Niort and deputy of Two Sevres in the 19th century.
04. The operating site of the regional horticultural vocational school (2005)
Production of fruit and ornamental trees, hedge shrubs and flowers. On 4 ha: 10.000 m2 of open-ground crops; 6.000 m2 of platform for container cultivation; 2 greenhouses of 400 m2; a cold room for preserving cut flowers and floral arrangements; a building comprising a greenhouse for sale, operating building with sanitary changing rooms and classroom, a meeting room and staff housing ! A water recycling and irrigation system, a first in France, allows a saving of 1 m80.000 of water!
Other curiosities to see:
- The old priory chapel of Croizé (private property visible from rue d’Antes)
- The fountain of the dead washhouse
- The Fountain of Amourettes
- The reaches et The windmills (Ane's mill rue du Moulin d'Ane)
- The Notre-Dame de Lourdes cave in Antes
- The Ste-Pezenne footbridge : a link with the city of Niort
- The path of the Bride
- The wood of Les Touches
- The Chantemerle hillside
- Coquelonne a kingdom for aquatic flora and fauna.
