Jarnac, Moulins et jardins de l'Ile Madame au fil des siècles | by Sandrine Richard

An important trading town (grain, wine and salt) in the heart of Saintonge since the Middle Ages, Jarnac was a prosperous seigneury that continued to assert its power thanks to the Chabot family from the 14th century onwards. Renaud Chabot's castle, built with great splendor in the 15th century on the right bank of the river, structured the town's landscape and urban planning for four centuries, until its total destruction in the early 19th century. With its demolition from top to bottom, the private gardens on the islands and the agricultural and winegrowing outbuildings of the château (now Maison Courvoisier) also disappeared; likewise, the Faubourg des Moulins, the beating heart of the town's economy, was transformed into a vast district fully integrated into the urban planning of the new town taking shape at the time.

Over the course of the 19th century, the city of Jarnac became a key and renowned centre for the cognac brandy trade, and despite the transformations, has managed to preserve an exceptional heritage to this day: the former gardens of the château (now the Jardin Public de l’Ile Madame), the lock and the chaussée des Moulins. So many places familiar to the people of Jarnac, bearing witness to a history intimately linked to the river Charente.