Châtellerault is the second largest town in the Vienne department, some thirty kilometres north of Poitiers. It grew up on both banks of the river Vienne, crossed by the Pont Henri-IV, an early seventeenth-century bridge linking the old centre on the right bank to the Châteauneuf district on the left bank. This position as a crossing point on the Vienne, and on the route between Paris and the south-west, has shaped the town.
Châtellerault lived off industry for a long time. The national arms factory, known locally as la Manu, built beside the Vienne in the nineteenth century, employed thousands of people before it closed; its restored buildings now house the Musée Auto Moto Vélo. The town keeps other landmarks from its history, such as the church of Saint-Jacques, a stop on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela, and the Théâtre Blossac. That industrial past and a largely older housing stock explain a property market that has remained affordable.
The geography of prices follows that of the town. The old centre on the right bank accounts for most flat sales. The Ozon district, to the south, remains the most affordable. The residential areas to the east, around Les Minimes, and the left bank, around La Forêt, form the upper end of a range that stays narrow. On a low-volume market, the gaps between districts come down to a handful of transactions.
