Château de Beaupuy

The Château de Beaupuy is located in the commune of Mouilleron-le-Captif, in the Vendée department of the Pays de la Loire region in western France, near La Roche-sur-Yon.

The feudal estate of Beaupuy (mentioned as Bello-Podio as early as 1001) was occupied from at least the mid-15th century by the Chauvinière family. Jean Chauvinière is recorded there around 1440. The family built a fortified manor that was remodelled in the Renaissance style in the 16th century (around 1547), giving it columned doorways, capped towers and a small belfry. Jacques II Chauvinière became Baron of Beaupuy in 1642. The property later passed to Pierre Gourdon (from 1780) before being acquired around 1835 by Comte Henry-Louis-Ernest de Tinguy de Nesmy (1814–1891), a renowned wolf hunter known as “Tinguy-le-loup”.

In 1871 the count had a new château built in the neo-Gothic style beside the old manor. The family moved in on 6 October 1871. His devout wife, Georgine de Chabot, had a small replica of the Lourdes grotto erected on the estate so that she could see it from her window.

In 1951 their grandson Jean de Tinguy de Vexiau demolished the dilapidated 15th–16th-century manor (to avoid taxes on the ruin) while retaining the 1871 neo-Gothic château. He died without direct heirs in 1987. In 2000 the municipality of Mouilleron-le-Captif purchased the domain, including the landscaped park of about 43 hectares.

Today the park is a public green space that hosts cultural and leisure facilities such as Vendéspace and the event hall known as La Longère de Beaupuy. The neo-Gothic château itself is normally closed but is occasionally opened for guided visits, particularly during the European Heritage Days. Waterproofing works, trompe-l’œil windows and exterior lighting have helped preserve and enhance the building. Fragments of the older fortified manor remain visible on the site.