Attractions and Places To See around Saint-Brice - Top 20

The Charente in this sector is lined with many castles, the area is rich thanks to the production of Cognac and Pineau.

Bourg-Charente castle is a 17th century mansion. Nestled on a rocky promontory, it is located a few kilometers from Cognac. It also houses the remains of a medieval fortress. Acquired in the 20th century, this château houses cellars for producing Grand Marnier. It can be visited from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It is in this castle that the cognac cellars of the Marnier-Lapostolle family are located, used for the production of Grand Marnier cognac.

Castle with a fairly compact architecture, rich in details and various corbels that seem to come out of a Walt Disney story. It doesn't look very well maintained, what a pity!

The Grand Marnier comes here!

Gondeville is noted in 1252, during an exchange between Jean Rot, squire, lord of Châteauneuf and Sallomon de Gondeville, knight. The lords of Gondeville have been known since the 13th century. They had the right of high, medium and low justice. In compensation for work carried out on the Charente, they had obtained the right to collect a bushel of salt on each barge of salt going up the course of the river. They came under the lordship of Bouteville. But Gondeville was not a parish and depended on that of Saint-Même. Towards the end of the 14th century, lived Foulques de Gondeville who was succeeded by his son Armand. Then came Jean Bouterouhe, whose daughter Agnès, married Guillaume de Cruc. The latter thus became lord of Gondeville and left this lordship to his heirs. His granddaughter, Magdeleine de Cruc, ceded Gondeville to Jean de La Rochebeaucourt, younger son of the house of Saint-Même and received in exchange the land of Courpignac, in Saintonge (May 10, 1590). In the early years of the 17th century, the heirs of Jean de La Rochebeaucourt sold the land of Gondeville to Samuel de Lanauve, adviser to Parliament, which was acquired in 1655 by Pierre Laisné, sieur du Chardonneaux. In 1664, he had a lawsuit with Isaac de Culant, lord of Saint Even, about the enclave of Gondreville, which he succeeded in having erected into a parish. In May 1683, he reiterated his request to King Louis XIV for a church to be built in the town. It was finally built by his son-in-law Mr de Nanclas in 1700 and thanks to a grant of 1000 pounds granted by the King. It was demolished by the storm of February 20, 1879 between 1879 and 1880 under the direction of architect Augustin Landry. New restorations took place at the beginning of the 20th century, in particular according to the plans of the architect Luis Martin.

The Château de Garde-Épée in Saint-Brice is built on the edge of a plateau overlooking the Charente in the distance. In January 1553, Sieur Ancelin, a merchant, bought this fief from the Marquis de Caravaz (the Marquis de Carabas in Perrault's tale) with permission to build a crenellated house there with a gigantic flight, fish pond and warren. Around the middle of the 17th century, Jean Ancelin having died childless, his heirs sold the domain of Garde-Épée to a Mr. Richard, who was still the owner in 1698. Finally the house of Garde-Épée passed into the family of Jarnac de Garde-Épée, which still owns it today with the abbey of Châtre, through a private company, the Société de Garde-Épée, whose main shareholder is Henri de Jarnac. On the right, before the entrance, the imposing round flight has 2600 putlogs. It is covered with a pepperbox roof with three skylights and dates from 1553. The arms of the Ancelins are visible above the door. The entrance is imposing with a carriage entrance surmounted by a long curtain wall crowned with merlons. The buildings form a vast quadrilateral. The house which occupies the north side was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century with two levels under a low roof; it is extended by two single level wings. The courtyard has a curious well covered with a roof. The castle has been listed as a historical monument since October 30, 1973.

From the 12th to the 15th century, the parish church of Saint-Pierre was part of the former diocese of Saintes. The Romanesque church underwent major renovations in the Gothic period (nave, chancel). It was largely destroyed in 1562, during the Wars of Religion and has only retained its old choir, its facade bell tower and its south aisle. A major restoration campaign was carried out in the years 1865-1868. It was at this time that the nave and the side aisles were rebuilt. The choir with a flat apse pierced by a large bay window in the Flamboyant Gothic style, is covered with a vault of warheads with liernes. It was built in the middle of the 15th century by the Valois of Orléans, whose arms appear in the keystone. A bay with four mullions and a flamboyant network to the east, and a simple lancet bay on the other sides illuminate it. On the facade, established in projection and the width of the porch, opens the door with three rollers, formed of sausages and cavets, on columns, with capitals with foliage and foliage, surrounded by a cord loaded with festoons. Above is the square bell tower, presenting to the west a foliated frieze, a cornice and a blind arcade, received by seven columns with capitals. Set back, there are two floors adorned with five columns on the corners and two intermediate ones, rising to the top. The first is pierced on each side by two semicircular arches. The second floor is open with two third-point bays, on columns. A conical spire completes the bell tower. The beautiful bell tower with a stone spire covered with scales belongs to the original Romanesque church. It was completed in the 19th century by four small pinnacles surrounding the spire. Placed to the west of the building, it now serves as a bell tower. The floor covered with a stone barrel vault opening onto the nave has two capitals from the first half of the 12th century; one of them represents two men leaning against each other whose hands are eaten by monsters. A 12th century gallery exists above the porch, the width of the nave; Originally this platform extended over the aisles which extended along the alignment of the porch. The Romanesque facade and bell tower, as well as the Gothic choir, have been listed as Historic Monuments since 1932.