Heritage

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Heritage Marthonnais

(Source http://www.patrimoine-cdc-scp.fr/marthon/)

Eglise Saint-Martin
Donjon de la tour du Breuil
La chapelle Porte
Le château neuf
Place de l’ancienne Gendarmerie
Les halles
La place du pigeonnier

Eglise Saint-Martin : (Church)

The church, standing on the right bank of the Bandiat, stood outside the village walls in the Middle Ages in the quarter of Saint-Martin. The Romanesque church has a plan in the shape of a Latin cross. The windows which provide light for the building are adorned with XIXth century stained glass depicting several saints : Martin, Jean-Baptiste, etc.

In the outer walls of the nave can be seen funeral recesses, which were quite common in the Middle Ages and reserved for deceased members of the aristocracy. Another external feature, in the angle between the nave ant the south transept, is the re-use of a medieval modillion depicting a couple.

Le Donjon de la Tour du Breuil : (the Dungeon of the Tower)

Quoique mutilé, le Donjon, aussi appelé Tour du Breuil, est l’élément clé de cet ensemble castral. iI fut construit au milieu du XII ème siècle. de plan rectangulaire, il comprenait à l’origine trois niveaux et sa hauteur avoisinait les 30 mètres aujourd’hui et demeure l’un des plus importants donjons romans du département dela Charente.

La Chapelle-porte : (Chapel gate)

The chapel-gate, dedicated to saint John the Evangelist, is a Romanesque construction with a rectangular plan rising to a height of 20 metres. It was set on the surrounding wall of the bailey to provide access to the castle from the village. The originality of the monument lies in its dual role : as a passage for the ground floor and as a seigniorial chapel in the upper part. The porch also served to provide shelter for voyagers and pilgrims.The monument was restored with great care in the 1990s by a private individual.

Le Château Neuf (privé) : (New Castle – Private)

The Château-Neuf was constructed in the middle of the XVIth century as a replacement for the Romanesque castle which was severely damaged during the Hundred Years War. This Renaissance construction was not completed following the death of the patron. In the period 1900-1910, the owner at the time decided to finish the edifice by extending the façade to be left of the grand staircase. The architecture of the Château-Neuf is now quite eclectic as the numerous modifications at the start of the XXth century have had a decisive effect on the general aspect of the building.

Place de l’ancienne Gendarmerie: (place of the former gendarmerie)

The view from this square is very interesting because its helps to understand the strategic reasons which drove the lords of Marthon to build the fortress on the rocky spur which overlooks the Bandiat and the surroundind countryside. From the square can be seen the two largest remains of the fortress which still dominate the village : the keep and the chapel-gate.

Les halles:

La place du pigeonnier: (dovecot square)

The square called “dovecot square” takes its name from the semicircular tower which has new been completely levelled. This public area was created in 1998 and completed in 2000 by the renovation of several buildings and the creation of commercial premises all round the square, thus giving it a pleasing homogenous appearance. The Romanesque keep on the promontory and the roofs of the houses below can be seen quite clearly. The construction of the façades indicates that these buildings were almost certainly leaning on the old village ramparts. A small part of this wall can still be seen close by, in the rue des anciennes douves.