The Plassac castle (Fr. Château de Plassac) is located in the municipalities of Plassac and Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge in Charente-Maritime.
A first fortified castle existed in 1340, the date of a lawsuit for its possession between Guillaume de Flotte and Pons de Mortagne. Confiscated by the crown, it was given to Renaud IV, Lord of Pons, and remained in this family until its sale to Jean-Louis Nogaret de La Valette, Duke of Épernon. The castle was reportedly rebuilt around 1555. In 1633, following his altercation with the Archbishop of Bordeaux and his excommunication, Jean-Louis Nogaret went into exile in Plassac, which had recently been set up from barony to county.
After 1633 the Duke of Épernon enlarged the castle, which was then sold by his son, emptied of his furniture and abandoned during inheritance disputes until 1755. It went to the Marquise de Montazet whose son, Charles will undertake its demolition from 1769 to keep only the bases and ditches and build a new castle.
In 1940, Rommel set up his base there.
The castle benefits from multiple protections for historical monuments: an inscription on 6 November 2003, a classification for the entire castle on 9 June 2008 and an inscription for the courtyard on 9 June 2008.
The eighteenth-century castle has a high pavilion with broken roofs framed by two wings each terminated by a triangular pediment projection. The roofs, high, covered with slate are pierced with small dormers with rounded pediments.
The courtyard is framed by the eighteenth century stables and the nineteenth century outbuildings.
GPS coordinates: 45° 28′ 15″ N, 0° 33′ 49″ E
