Château de Panloy

Guillaume de Ransanne(s) is known as the first lord of Panloy, and written records indicate that subsequently, this title reverted to the Moreaus, who became lords of Panloy from the early 15th century to 1680. Seized and sold, the seigneury changed hands several times, and on July 8, 1760, it constituted the dowry brought by Marie Sarry, lady of the barony of La Chaume de Nancras and Champagne, de la Tour and de Panloy, to Jacques Michel, Baron de Saint-Dizant. He restored the residence, keeping only one entrance pavilion, dating from the old castle which had been built during the Renaissance. Their daughter Anne-Marie married the Marquis de Grailly in 1785, whose descendants are still the owners of the castle. During the Revolution, the Marquise, like other aristocrats whose property, and even lives, were threatened, used the revolutionary divorce law, which allowed her to keep the estate; when her husband was amnestied during the Consulate, he returned in 1802 and they remarried in 1806; since then, the castle has remained in the same family with Louis XV era furniture.

There were two constructions on the estate: an old castle dating from the Renaissance and a more recent one, built in the early 17th century. Of the first, only a few elements remain, such as a cellar and a late Renaissance style pavilion which faces a second, later pavilion, perhaps mid-18th century, whose style was copied from the first. Both are adorned with colonnettes, capitals, coffers sculpted with flowers, lions, and masks. The current castle, restored between 1770 and 1772 by the Baron de Saint-Dizant, is U-shaped. It has a facade facing the Charente and centered by a projection with a triangular pediment sculpted with the family coat of arms. These were added during the significant expansion and embellishment work undertaken around 1870 by the Marquis Gaston de Grailly, who stayed at the castle after spending the winter in his hotel on rue Saint-Hilaire in Poitiers. The two wings are composed of four tall pavilions. The slate roofs are pierced with dormer windows with sculpted pediments added in 1877, at which time the original roof with so-called broken or "Mansard" attics (made of tiles and slates) was removed and rebuilt higher, following the 19th-century fashion. The long terrace with a stone balustrade overlooks the Charente. The castle's dovecote is complete and the best preserved in the department: it is a cylindrical dovecote with 3,000 nesting boxes, with a roof topped by a lantern, signed by the master mason and dated 1620. Given its size and the legislation then in force, it is indicative of an estate extending over more than 1,000 arpents, or one third of a hectare (33 ares) or a "journal" in Saintonge. After initial partial protection in 1983, the entire estate was listed as a Historic Monument in 2021.