Attractions and Places To See around Saint-Laurent-De-Cognac - Top 20

Magnificent We can also have a picnic

A must-see visit alongside this abbey on a magnificent circuit

The Garde-Épée dolmen is classified as a historic monument. It is made up of five slabs which delimit the room and slabs which cover it. The dolmen is five meters long and more than two meters high.

A particularity is located in the gallery of arcature which overhangs the portal. Indeed it has three arched windows on one side of the central window and two semicircular on the other. Note that the two bays on the right occupy the same width as the three on the left. The bell tower, like many others in the region, has a pyramidal roof. Simple columns come to partition the two windows which cover each face. Inside the church, archival documents prove that the nave with two bays was originally vaulted with warheads. Unfortunately, this vault was destroyed during religious wars. Still according to archival documents, it would seem that at the beginning of the 20th century, a narthex, where the catechumens were held, leaned on its facade. Today, it has completely disappeared. The church was classified as a historic monument in 1913. The building underwent a complete restoration in 1935. To admire just next to the church a magnificent and majestic period residence.

The walls of the nave were doubled by means of arcades and it was endowed with a new chevet and a new bell tower. With an elegant silhouette and intact in its southern part, it is openworked with four twin bays on semicircular arches on two floors. The interior has a nave with three bays. A bay separates the nave from the front choir vaulted in blocks of rubble which, very narrow, supports the bell tower. The semi-circular apse is vaulted in cul-de-four. The 19th century side chapel, dedicated to Saint Anthony, is located on the left as you enter. Vaulted in a broken cradle, it has a stucco altar whose base has five broken arch bays. A very beautiful ornate wooden balcony dating from the end of the 19th century is located at the interior entrance of the church. The statue of Notre-Dame de Fontdouce, known as "the Virgin and Child" was sculpted by a monk from the Abbey of Fontdouce around the 15th century. It has been kept in the church of Saint Bris des Bois since the revolution and was once a destination of pilgrimage. On the back wall, a semicircular stained glass window indicates the names of the parish priest, Mr. Hague, and the mayor at the time, Mr. Lévécot (1904). The Priory of St Robert: the chapel destroyed during the wars of religion, the campanile is still in place. Saint Robert once had a great reputation, at the end of the 19th century, children suffering from certain illnesses were still brought there "before sunrise". The church was listed as a Historic Monument in 1973. To visit it you will have to pay your tribute just the price of a slight effort ....... the church is located at the top of the hill overlooking the village and adjoining the cemetery.

Towards the end of the 12th century, an abbey church was built. At the beginning of the 13th century, attached to the west of the first Romanesque abbey, a Gothic-style cloister was gradually built. The abbey reached its peak from this period: in addition to its priories (la Grainetière in Vendée and la Tenaille near Pons), it owned land within a radius of 100 km, including saltworks on the coast. In the 15th century, Fontdouce obtained the title of royal abbey leading to a profound change in its mode of administration: the abbot was no longer elected by his peers within the community but was appointed by the king. It is often a great layman to whom the king grants the commendation, that is to say 80% of the income of the abbey. Then, the wars of religion, in the 16th century, accelerated its decline. The abbey church is ransacked: it will never be rebuilt. The years following the French Revolution also brought their share of destruction: several buildings, including the refectory, disappeared. The last monks were driven out in 1793 and the following year the site was sold as National Property to serve as agricultural property. The farmer who bought the place then built, on the remains of the conventual buildings, a house in the First Empire style. In the 1820s, Fontdouce entered the family of the current owners who, on December 16, 1986, had the Gothic parts, chapter house and parlor classified as historical monuments2. From 1970, the current owners undertook a series of excavations intended for the restoration of the Abbey of Fontdouce. They are gradually bringing the beautiful chapter house and the Gothic parlor back to life, the two superimposed Romanesque chapels and several other remains. These restoration works earned them third prize in the masterpiece in danger competition in 1979. In 1986, the site was entirely classified as a Historic Monument1. Today, Fontdouce remains a private property, focused on tourist and cultural activities, supported in its development actions by a team of enthusiasts grouped together within the Association Guillaume de Conchamp.

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.

This dwelling was built around the middle of the 16th century (1553), in the form of a crenellated house with a leak. In 1562, nine machicolations were drilled above the entrance gate which once ended, at both ends, with two turrets, only one of which remains. The postern is framed by two pilasters and surmounted by a triangular pediment decorated with fire pots. With this house was built a terrace. The other farm buildings are of recent construction, as well as the chapel in front of the gate.