Domaine de Bussière-les-Nonains

English translation

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History

In the 12th century, foundation of the abbey of women Notre-Dame-de-Bussière by the Cistercian abbeys of Esclache (63) and Noirlac (18) in an unlocated location. Following donations, it moved in 1188 near Vallon-en-Sully, then in the course of the 13th century to its present site. Construction of convent buildings and the church. Remains of 13th-century church: portal (in the north wing of the former convent buildings), holy water stoup (in the present chapel). Troubled period 1350-1492: Hundred Years War, floods... The abbey is severely degraded and ruined. From 1492 to 1611, the families of Moussy and Beauquère shared the office of abbesses of Bussière. The Abbess of Moussy rebuilt the convent buildings around 1530 on the same site. The church being probably partly in ruins, a chapel was then built at the rear of the north wing. An outer enclosure, with towers, surrounded the whole. Remains: north, east and south convent buildings (present commons), a tower of the enclosure (present chapel), stained glass of the chapel. Transfer to Bourges (1625-1789) In 1625, transfer of the community to Bourges where it remained until the Revolution. The 'old Bussière' was no more than a farm providing income. The convent buildings were used by tenant farmers. Return of the abbess (1758-1789) Abbess Reine-Charlotte de Bry d'Arcy, faced with the critical situation of the abbey of Bourges and to recover the rights and revenues of Bussière, decided to rejoin this site. She had a new building built for her residence (18th-century wing). The sale and secularisation of the abbey (1791-1927) - 1791, the abbey and its farmhouses were sold to Jean Garraud du Planchat, a family from Montluçon. - 1821, Jacques Serre, merchant in Montluçon, purchased the estate. - 1837, his son Léon Serre, lawyer in Montluçon, inherited it. He pursued an active policy of acquisition around Bussière and transformed the buildings and surroundings: creation of an English-style park behind the house, arrangement of the commons (construction of the dovecote, installation of stables in the old church, construction of a garage building, woodshed and barn), transformation of the defensive tower into a chapel, construction of another residential wing as a return wing to the 18th-century wing. - 1874 his son Gabriel de Serres settled at Bussière. He further enlarged the property and remodelled the house: installation of panelling, tapestries and old paintings. 1927 - His heiress and her husband, M. de Vergnole, had an extension built in the extension of the 19th-century wing.

Description

To the south, buildings of the former abbey (present commons): three low wings arranged in a U; the north wing contains the 13th-century church portal, the east wing a Renaissance fireplace. To the west of these buildings, a vegetable garden punctuated by circular basins; at the southern extremity, a dovecote/square garden summerhouse and a circular chapel (former defensive tower) containing a 16th-century stained glass window and a Romanesque holy water stoup. To the north, the residential section - 18th-century wing: an elongated and low building covered in flat tiles with dormers, round tower at the southwest corner, square tower at the northwest corner, regular openings with ferruginous sandstone surrounds. 19th and 20th-century wings, in return to the east in the continuation of each other: elevated one level higher than the 18th-century wing and covered in slate, they nevertheless have the same materials and types of openings. Semi-projecting circular tower at the centre of the south courtyard facade (former corner tower before 20th-century enlargement); circular tower at the northeast corner of the 20th-century wing and bartizan at its southeast corner. Inside the 18th-century wing, salon with 19th-century panelling incorporating 17th-century Aubusson tapestries and 16th-century painted canvases, dining room with 18th-century panelling also incorporating Aubusson tapestries. In the 19th and 20th-century wings, fittings of these periods preserved (fireplaces, parquetry, wainscoting...). To the west of this complex, avenue, gate and terraced gardens with several fountains.