Niort, France
12th century
Plaine-et-Vallées, France
15th century
Airvault, France
11th century
Saint-André-sur-Sèvre, France
c. 1370
Bressuire, France
12th century
Parthenay, France
13th century
Échiré, France
13th century
Saint-Loup-Lamairé, France
17th century
Cherveux, France
12th century
Chef-Boutonne, France
1514
Thouars, France
1638
Argentonnay, France
14th century
Amailloux, France
14th century
Saint-Martin-de-Sanzay, France
15th century
Échiré, France
16th century
Maisontiers, France
15th century
Glénay, France
12th century
Beaulieu-Sous-Parthenay, France
14th century
Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).