The Lordship of Saint-Simon belonged in 1524 to Nicolas Arnoul, adviser to the parliament of Bordeaux. The title passed to his eldest son, then on his death without issue, to his two brothers: Bertrand, Lord of Nieul le Virouil, and André, Lord of Vignolles, then of Saint-Simon, Vaumondois and Brie. Partly married to Lucrèce Echallard who gave him two sons: André and Jonathan. The castle was then a small stronghold, which played a certain role during the Wars of Religion. Its location remains hypothetical. In the 1770s, it was Auguste Poussard who was Lord of Saint-Simon. His daughter Louise, Françoise, Jeanne, Marie Poussard du Vigean married the Marquis du Chilleau. It was the latter who decided to build in 1775, at its current location, according to the plans of the architect Louis who had just completed the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. His son, Charles Marie, Chevalier d'Airvault, was governor of Santo Domingo in 1788. Not having emigrated at the time of the Revolution, he was arrested on December 21, 1793, locked up in Brouage and died at the beginning of the year. 1794. The castle was sold as national property for, it is said, “a pair of oxen and two capons. » On 1 ° Thermidor of the year XII, the Court of Jonzac attributed it to Sieur Dauvin who sold it to a certain Péligrino. In 1812, Jacques Julien Blanc Fontenille, lawyer and mayor of Jonzac, bought it. In 1832, the latter resold it to Baron de Lajus, deputy in 1849, he was introducer of ambassadors under the Second Empire. It was Count Pierre Marie Louis Ernest de Vallée who inherited it in 1862, having married the daughter of Monsieur de Lajus Marie Françoise, Caroline Laure. On December 29, 1869, the Baroness of Dampierre, born Naïs Panon Desbassayns de Richemont, widow of Guillaume Louis Roger de Dampierre, bought it. She bequeaths it to her eldest son, Baron Roger Charles Eugène de Dampierre who has just married a Mexican: Mademoiselle Etchegueren. Away in the park, a Gothic chapel was built around 1860-1880. On the night of September 28 to 29, 1889, a fire completely destroyed the castle which had just been completely restored. It was rebuilt identically except for the roofs and some windows. René Aymard de Dampierre, inherited it on the death of his father in 1935. He married Suzanne Véron, a princess of Romanian origin. He died in 1949 and she in 1975 childless. His sister, Marie Conception, Françoise, Naîs, Rita de Dampierre has no heir either. Viscount Jean de Richemont inherited it, bequeathing it to his son Yves. Sold at auction at the end of 1999, it was bought by an American company and managed by Mr. Richard Postrel.
Today this castle is a "top secret" place whose access road is however not prohibited by any sign but whose occupants let you know firmly that the place is private and the approach "prohibited" to walkers (even staying on the path and outside the property) …… surprising and above all a pity because the castle is magnificent!
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