Ensigné

Ensigné
Ensigné
Commune
	The commandry
	Location of Ensigné
	Ensigné Ensigné
	Coordinates: 46°05′19″N 0°14′35″W / 46.0886°N 0.2431°W
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Deux-Sèvres
Arrondissement	Niort
Canton	Mignon-et-Boutonne
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Bernard Belaud
Area 1	20.30 km2 (7.84 sq mi)
Population (2021)	288
• Density	14/km2 (37/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	79111 /79170
Elevation	55–149 m (180–489 ft) ; (avg. 413 m or 1,355 ft)
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Ensigné (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃siɲe]) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.

Geography

The surrounding countryside is densely wooded. The village is close to the forest of Ensigné and of Aulnay.

The kindergarten and primary school have been merged with those of Asnières-en-Poitou and Paizay-le-Chapt, none of the three individual villages having a population above 300 by the start of the twenty-first century.

History

The history of the village is closely linked to that of the Knights Templar. Ensigné contains a Templar command post comprising fortifications, a chapel and a castle.

Today the site is privately owned: the castle itself is in a ruined condition, but two separate properties have been created from the part including the former chapel.