Château de Plassac

A first castle existed at Plassac, in the Charente-Maritime, in 1340, the date of a lawsuit over its ownership between Guillaume de Flotte and Pons de Mortagne. Confiscated by the crown, it was given to Renaud IV, lord of Pons, and stayed in that family until it was sold to Jean-Louis Nogaret de La Valette, Duke of Épernon. In 1633, after his quarrel with the Archbishop of Bordeaux and his excommunication, the duke went into exile at Plassac and enlarged the castle; it was later sold by his son, emptied of its furniture and left abandoned during inheritance disputes until 1755.

From 1769 Charles de Montazet demolished it, keeping only the foundations and ditches, and built a new château. In the mid-19th century the Dampierre family added an outbuilding wing, levelled the esplanade and removed the remains of the medieval bailey. In 1940 Rommel set up his headquarters here. The 18th-century château has a tall pavilion with a mansard roof between two wings ending in pedimented projections, under very high slate roofs with small round-pedimented dormers. Only the exterior can be visited.

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