France. Loire-Atlantique. Clisson. It is situated at the confluence of the Sèvre Nantaise and the Moine. The first Lords of Clisson occupied the site, a rocky outcrop dominating the river, from the 11th century. Most of the present castle was built in the 13th century by Guillaume de Clisson, its form at that time was an irregular polygon flanked by round towers and isolated from the rocky plateau by a shallow moat. In the 14th century, Olivier III de Clisson incorporated the gatehouse into a massive quadrilangular keep. In the 15th century, the fortifications were modernised to permit the use of artillery and the curtain wall was extended and completed by a barbican. At the same time, the castle was enlarged to the west with a new rectangular enclosure nearly 100 metres long, armed with towers with artillery casemates. Around 1590, the troubled period of the French Wars of Religion necessitated the construction of three terraced bastions on the south. The central structure is a well which was the scene of a massacre of several locals, killed by being thrown down it. 2014