Briere and close to the coast, the city of Pontchâteau is located in a site of passage, on a bend of Brivet, the last tributary of the right bank of the Loire. The bridge which spans it, Gallo-Roman or medieval with a wooden deck was replaced in 1877 by a stone bridge of a single arch.
The castle was built around 1070. Dominant and monitoring the toll bridge, he was district Ste-Catherine: the remains of two round towers and a square tower tend to prove. Men moved gradually to the castle of the Lords Bridge. So this place was called originally "Castle Bridge" appellation which turned into Pontchâteau. The castle was probably destroyed in 1500.
In 1096 was founded the Benedictine priory of St-Martin attached to the abbey of Marmoutier-lès-Tours.
Creation of the common in 1790.
Pontchâteau is the hometown of the filmmaker Jacques Demy born June 5, 1931 (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg).
