Top 11 Castles around Les Sables-D'Olonne

Beautiful castle whose "military" part dates from the 11th century and the "residential" part from the Renaissance.

The Château de Noirmoutier is a castle on the Île de Noirmoutier in the Vendée département of France. It dominates the town of Noirmoutier-en-l'Île with its almost 20-metre-high (66 ft) keep. The castle is very well preserved and a fine example of 12th-century medieval architecture. The first traces of the castle appeared in 830 with the construction of a castrum by the abbot Hilbold, from the monastery of Saint-Philbert. It served to defend the monks and the island's population from the Vikings. The castle was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century by the feudal power who was trying to stabilise the region, notably by preventing Norman pillaging. The island at that time was under the control of the barons of La Garnache. The keep was built by Pierre IV of La Garnache, then an enclosure equipped with towers was built around the lower courtyard. In the 16th century, the castle was held by the La Trémoille family, then viscounts of Thouars. The castle resisted numerous attacks: the English in 1342 and 1360, and again in 1386 under the command of the Earl of Arundel the Spanish in 1524 and 1588 but in 1674, it was taken by the Dutch troops of Admiral Cornelis Tromp. The castle was sold in 1720 to Louis IV Henri de Bourbon-Condé, who resold it in 1767 to Louis XV. During the French Revolution, the castle was used as a military prison. During the 19th century, it was used as a barracks. In 1871, during the Paris Commune, insurgents were imprisoned there. The castle was used to intern German nationals during the First World War. In 1690, a house was built within the castle grounds by the governor of the island and the castle. Today, the keep houses the Noirmoutier Museum. The keep at the centre of the castle is solid and rectangular. Built of rubble, it has three floors, with the lords' residence at the top. The keep has numerous murder holes and defensive turrets at the corners. The rectangular fortification consists of two towers, a single gate and two watch turrets in the four corners. At the beginning of the 18th century, the towers were reconstructed and the keep adapted for artillery. Property of the commune, the Château de Noirmoutier is listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Noirmoutier

The Château would date from the mid-13th century; at the time it was a true fortress, flanked by six towers and surrounded by wide moats. From the 12th to the 14th century, this fortified castle served as a lock between Brittany and Poitou, in this border region where numerous strongholds stood: Pornic, Machecoul, Clisson, Tiffauges, Champtocé in the Marches of Brittany facing Commequiers, La Garnache, Palluau, Montaigu, Pouzauges, in lower Poitou. In the 17th century, Philippe de Clérembault, who inherited the family estate, was promoted to Marshal of France by the young King Louis XIV, and then undertook to rebuild his Château de Palluau to transform the old fortress into a modern castle, retaining the six large medieval towers and including between them a building covered with a Mansart roof, topped by a dome. The Marshal's castle was a unique building in all of Poitou: "the most regular and the most accomplished that exists in the region", according to Claude Masse, famous engineer-geographer to Louis XIV. Abandoned by its owners during the Revolution, the large empty residence served as a stronghold for the royalists in 1793 and its underground passages, as dungeons for republican prisoners. On February 8, 1794, a Republican Column set fire to the Château and the Church of Palluau. The site has never been rebuilt, nor even consolidated since. It remains in a state of ruin abandoned to vegetation. The Château de Palluau must have been a magnificent residence, judging by the imposing ruins that remain and by the plans and watercolor drawings by Claude Masse, which are preserved at the Museum of Engineering in Vincennes.

I couldn't get as close as guigui during his hike because a barrier blocked the path. You can see it well despite everything.

Beaumarchais Castle was built in the 16th century by Vincent Bouhier de l'Écluse, on the foundations of an old manor house built around 1450 by the Mauclère family, a former local knighthood. The castle underwent significant alterations in the early 19th century. Notable for its Renaissance architecture, it notably retains a large fireplace on the ground floor, listed as a historical monument since 1962, as well as its protected facades and roofs. Now privately owned, this castle illustrates the history and heritage of the Pays de Brem, an ancient region linking Brétignolles to the Vendée coast. It bears witness to the wealth and maritime trade of its shipowners in the 16th century.

The Château de Beaumarchais in Brétignolles-sur-Mer is a Renaissance-style building constructed in the 16th century by Vincent Bouhier de L’Écluse, on the foundations of an old medieval manor house. A private property listed as a Historic Monument in 1962, it is remarkable for its facades, roofs, and a Renaissance fireplace on the ground floor. Henry IV stayed there, reinforcing the prestige of the estate and its wines. The current architecture includes characteristic wings and turrets added in the 16th century, and the framework was completed in the 17th century. The château has no connection with the writer Beaumarchais; its name comes from an old contraction linked to the site.

nice visit to the castle on this medieval festival day.

Built in the second half of the 15th and in the 16th century by Louis de Beaumont, lord of Plessis-Macé in Anjou, the castle of Commequiers, now owned by the commune, was, like most of the castles of Bas Poitou, dismantled on the orders of Cardinal Richelieu in 1628, 6 years after the defeat of Soubise at Notre Dame de Riez and Saint Gilles. It was then the property of the La Trémoille, great Protestant lords. Throughout the Middle Ages, the lords of Commequiers exercised their administrative and jurisdictional influence over a vast territory. https://www.payssaintgilles-tourisme.fr/patrimoine-culturel/chateau-de-commequiers/