Abbey of Notre-Dame de Celles

At the end of that same century, the site was occupied by Augustinian canons from the abbey of Saint-Pierre de Lesterps (Charente).. It quickly became a place of pilgrimage, thanks to the devotion shown to a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary. Around 1137–1140, the priory was raised to the rank of abbey, and soon entered a period of prosperity due to the reputation of the image and its strategic location on one of the routes of the Way of Saint James to Compostela. This also allowed it to host distinguished guests, including royalty. In the mid-12th century, the bishop of Poitiers, Gilbert de La Porrée, formally detached it from Lesterps.

In 1801, worship was restored and the church became a parish, while the monastery passed into private hands, a situation that lasted until 1971, when it became publicly owned. The abbey church, rebuilt in the 17th century after the damage inflicted during the Wars of Religion, is still preserved. It is a three-aisled structure with transept and lateral chapels, built in the style of a Gothic church despite its later date. From the medieval period, the bell tower above the entrance porch survives, featuring a polylobed Romanesque doorway. On the eastern side stands a large building that once housed the 17th-century monastic quarters.