The Augustinian canons house of Notre-Dame de Puyferrand is documented from 1070. The site is mentioned again in 1175 in connection with a dispute in which its abbot, Isembert, took part. The house was probably founded and endowed by the lords of Châteauroux. A charter issued by Guillaume I de Chauvigny, Baron of Châteauroux, in 1216 confirmed the donations and privileges granted to Puyferrand by his predecessors. Guillaume III de Chauvigny, Lord of Châteauroux and Le Châtelet, confirmed these rights again in 1316.
In 1568 the abbey was burned and suffered severe damage during the French Wars of Religion. The canons were forced to abandon it, and the community never returned; thereafter the abbey survived only as a benefice. A visitation carried out in 1711 confirms this situation: the site was occupied only by its abbot, Pierre Gaussin, who had rebuilt the abbatial residence.
The Romanesque church, dating from the twelfth century, is still preserved. It has a single nave, a transept and a chevet with three apses, the central one having been altered. On the south side stands an adjoining structure, connected to the church by a doorway and provided with its own external entrance, probably built in the thirteenth century, perhaps with the aim of expanding the space intended for parish worship, a function that this temple also performed. Among its furnishings are elements of choir stalls believed to have come from the nearby Order of Fontevraud priory of Orsan.
Choir-stalls considered to come from Orsan Priory
Choir-stalls considered to come from Orsan Priory
Choir-stalls considered to come from Orsan Priory
Schematic plan of the church
- BEAUNIER, Dom (1912). Abbayes et prieurés de l'ancienne France. Vol. 5. Bourges. Abbaye de Ligugé
- BOYER, Jacques (1886). Journal de voyage de dom Jacques Boyer, religieux bénédictin de la Congrégation de Saint-Maur. Clermont-Ferrand: Thibaud
- BUHOT DE KERSERS, Alphonse (1891). Histoire et statistique monumentale du département du Cher, vol. 5. Bourges: Tardy
- DESHOULIÈRES, M. (1932). Puyferrand. Congrès archéologique de France. XCIV Session. Bourges. París: Picard
- FAVIÈRE, Jean (1970). Berry roman. La nuit des temps, 32. Zodiaque
- SAINT-MAUR, Congregació de (1720). Gallia Christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa. Vol. 2. París: Typographia Regia
- THAUMAS DE LA THAUMASSIÈRE, Gaspard (1689). Histoire de Berry. Bourges: Toubeau
The abbey church of Puyferrand is located in the commune of Le Châtelet, south of Bourges