France · 13th century
The Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers is a ruined castle in the commune of Les Trois-Moutiers in the Vienne department of France.
The stronghold dates to the thirteenth century and was originally called Motte Bauçay (or Baussay). The castle is a former stronghold of the Bauçay family, lords of Loudun. The Motte Baussay was taken several times by the English during the Hundred Years' War and devastated during the French Revolution.
It was bought in 1809 by François Hennecart, a wealthy businessman, and then sold to Baron Joseph Lejeune in 1857. However, a fire in 1932 destroyed most of the buildings in the castle, which then became abandoned.
In December 2017, a French startup organized a crowdfunding campaign site, and 27,190 people having to pay at least €50 each joined the cause, raising €1,600,000, to purchase the castle with the aim of preserving it.
The castle was the subject of a project by the French photographer Roman Veillon in his book Green urbex: Le monde sans nous.
Text adapted from “Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers ranks #1,578 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #121 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 1201, it is older than 75% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 1080 atlas entries founded in the 13th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,677 times in the last 60 days, more than 81% of the atlas. 9 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Tours, 60 km away. It is one of the 73 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Loire Valley. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
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