A-Z of the Communes in the Deux-Sèvres

Souvigné

by Sue Burgess

In 2017, there were 927 inhabitants in Souvigné according to that year's census of the commune. Souvigné is situated in the southern half of the Deux-Sèvres, to the south of Saint-Maixent l'Ecole and just outside the Niort conurbation. It is mainly accessible by 3 D roads: the RD 10 which links SaintMaixent l'Ecole to Melle and passes through the town, the RD 103 which links SaintMaixent l'Ecole to Celles sur Belle,and the RD 5 which links the RD 611 to the A10 through the southern part of the town.

Souvigné is just 5 km from Saint-Maixent l'Ecole, 15 km from La Crèche, 19 km from Melle, 26 km from Niort, 35 km from Parthenay and 58 km from Poitiers. There is a well-developed hydrographic network on the commune, essentially made up of the Sèvre Niortaise and its tributaries. Numerous springs feed them. It is a territory which is criss-crossed by a green network (the Hermitain forest) and a blue network (the Sèvre Niortaise Valley). There is also hedged farmland. In the centre, the landscape is diversified, flat and largely cultivated. There is more pronounced relief to the west and east of the plateau which delimits the upper part of the valleys, where water and trees (notably chestnut trees) are the characteristic elements, and the countryside is more undulating and not as flat. There are a few remarkable buildings in Souvigné (the Temple and the Château de Reigné) as well as small heritage features that contribute to the quality of the landscape (church, fountains, wash houses, low stone walls, crosses, Protestant cemeteries, etc.). There is also a listed site: La Pierre au Diable (The Devil's Stone) The name Souvigné first appears in written texts in 1110, but the Latin name, (Solviniacum) suggests an older origin dating from the Gallic-Roman period. In Souvigné, there was a parish church, Notre Dame, and a priory. Both of these depended on the abbey of Saint-Maixent. The church was destroyed during the Wars of Religion. Protestantism was very important in Souvigné until the Revolution. Souvigné Temple was partly built on the site of the priory church which had been used for Protestant worship since the Revolution. The temple was completed on 3 January 1870, with a Greek cross and cloverleaf shaped floor plan like that found in the temple of Chauray. The architect was Auguste Bergeron. In 1949, the west entrance porch was demolished on the advice of André Panou, a roofer. This caused serious damage to the masonry and vaults, leading to major work in 1995 under the supervision of M Hannebert, architect of the Buildings of France. The temple is now only occasionally used for worship.

Catholic worship continued in a small sanctuary that was blessed by the Bishop of Poitiers in 1850. In 1859 Mme de Villedon donated land so that a church and a presbytery could be built. The church was built against the wishes of the protestant town council but was consecrated in 1864. The presbytery was built a little bit later. In 1910 the steeple of the church was in a dangerous condition and badly in need of repair. The protestant town council voted to get rid of the steeple and so the repairs were paid entirely from donations from the Catholic community who wanted to keep their church. The presbytery was sold in 1910 by the town as it had become town property after the law separating the Church and the State in 1905. It is for sale again today.

The stained glass windows of the church were all made in Tours around 1902 in the workshop of J P Florence. Located 7 km south of Saint-Maixent, the privately owned Château de Régné has been linked to the Vasselot family since the 15th century. The original medieval building was redesigned in the 16th century with the addition of several doors and windows. Pierre II de Vasselot (died in 1717) and his wife Jacquette Pouvreau de Logerie had two quadrangular pavilions built next to the main building. After a roof fire in 1793, general restoration work was undertaken in 1905 by the architect Lafargue who designed a double gallery which linked the body of the main dwelling and the two pavillions. The interior has been completely altered and only some of the old fire-places remain in the living rooms and kitchen. There is a round pigeon loft and a well.

A voir / Must see

Le Musée de la vie rurale et de la coiffe

The little local museum is situated just below the temple. It is open on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 14h30 – 18h30 in July, August and September. The museum houses local traditional head-dresses and objects depicting local rural life. There are several outbuildings (barns, old workshops, foodstores) a communal bread oven, a washhouse and a small hut that pilgrims or walkers could use for an overnight stay.

Just beyond the museum is a clearly marked out walking circuit of 500m that takes you past a wash-house and two or three small private protestant cemeteries. (Protestants could not be buried in the Catholic cemetery). The different features have information panels which tell you about the wash-house or the cemeteries and show you old photographs.

Local Walks

There are 6 clearly marked out local walks around different parts of the commune. If you are interested, PDF leaflets are available to download free of charge from the commune website www.souvigne.fr They are to be found in the menu on the left hand side under circuits de randonnée.

La Pierre au Diable

The Devil's stone was an upright piece of granite. Details of how to get to what is left of it are in the leaflet for the randonnée number 5. The walk starts at La Pergellerie, just outside the main part of the village, where there is a fishing lake with a picnic area (not accessible in the winter months). There are two different legends about the stone. The stone is next to a stream called the Miauray. There are deep scratches in the stone which are know as the « griffes du diable » (the devil's claws). There was also a hollowed patch on the stone. Legend says that the devil was passing by and wanted to sleep in the open air over night. The hollow is the part of the stone where he laid his head. There were also other hollowed out areas on the surrounding land and a second legend says that these were made by the footsteps of the devil as he was chasing a local shepherdess.

Most of the hollows and part of the stone disappeared when a nearby road was widened, but what remains and the « lieu-dit » are still known as « La Pierre au Diable ».

6 wash-houses

There are 6 wash-houses on the commune. Two of them can be seen just after the little museum. The leaflet for walk number 6 takes you around all the wash-houses.

Logis de Boisguérin

Boisguérin is a domain of about 220 hectares which had been abandoned for almost a century. There are three farms dating from between 1850 to 1950 and the master's house (maison de maître).

A lot of different participative projects are happening. Details can be found on the web site ...

https://boisguerin.org/les-projets/

A bar has been set up in the old Orangerie. There is a shop selling local produce in the old greenhouse. A co-working space is going to be created in the rooms above the bar. There are free range hens, honey, vegetables all of which are produced at Boiguérin. There will be a weekly produce market in the summer but until then the produce (meat, veggies, eggs) can be found at Niort market on a Thursday morning or at the Friday evening market at la Mothe Saint Héray for the eggs, lentils and nuts.

There is a project to convert part of the domain into a gite, and BnB and to have meeting and function rooms available for rent.