Dampierre-sur-Loire

Dampierre comes from the contraction of Dominus Petrus that is to say Saint Peter. The texts in 1275 evoke Dampierre-du-chemin referring to the main thoroughfare which linked Montsoreau to Saumur via the top of the hillside, the bottom being often impassable due to the flooding of the Loire.

The Saint-Pierre church is mentioned in the archives from the XNUMXth century but rebuilt since, it presents parts of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries. Inside is a beautiful XNUMXth century statue representing Saint Tanche, whom popular piety transformed into Saint Étanche, then invoked to fight against urinary incontinence.

In the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, old lordships were converted into vineyards where a vast vineyard and numerous outbuildings adjoin the house with its refined architecture. This is the case of the Château de Morains, an old partly troglodyte stronghold which has a beautiful XNUMXth century dwelling where a wing was attached in the XNUMXth century to a crenellated tower. In the XNUMXth century, the wine from the Saumur coast was called “de Morains”, in reference to this château.

On the town is the hamlet of Chaintre entirely surrounded by vines.

It is a former stronghold bought in the XNUMXth century by the Fathers of the Oratory of Saumur. The magnificent enclosure is fully preserved and retains its beautiful entrance gate. In the hamlet is also the Manoir de l'Oratoire, classified as a Historic Monument, built at the end of the XNUMXth century and bought there again by the Oratorian fathers who built a chapel there.

The heritage of the town can be more discreet or unusual, such as the astonishing Bourgneuf house built in the heart of a sinkhole in the hillside, the small Saint-Vincent chapel which recalls the existence of a priory dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Florent, the Manor of Fourneux and its flight which has 2.000 putlog holes, and the troglodyte habitat, modest or not, installed in the rock and which sometimes has up to four levels of superimposed cavities.