The town of Aulnay is one of the smaller of the country Loudunais, not exceeding 8 km². This village offers a smooth transition between forest sands massive Scévolles and lowland land where there is beautiful stone galuche. In the seventeenth century Aulnay was one of the ponds of Acadia through his lord Charles Menou Aulnay. Indeed, this was one of the future colonists recruiting grounds of New France.
Focus on the gatehouse name that evokes a simplified design of the bell tower. The front wall is topped by an openwork spire revealing the bells. According to some historians, this type of construction dates back to the Merovingian, for others, it dates from the fourteenth century, when the English, as and when they advanced, destroying the massive church towers to replace them with simple harmless pediments. The township of Moncontour does not conceal least eight churches of this type.
