Château de Parthenay was built during the 13th century whose remains are still visible to this day. The castle was built on a rock by the side of the river. A citadel was built around the castle which was only accessible through the Saint Jacques gate. The gate and the city walls are still largely intact. There is another gate at the other side of the city, the Tour de l'Horloge gate. Both gates have characteristic almond-shaped towers. In total, the citadel has over 30 defensive towers, 4 entrance gates and a defensive wall with a length of over 1km.
References: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).