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Parthenay station

former railway station in Parthenay, France

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 3, 2026
Entity authorityQ3097255
Source-derived summary

The Gare de Parthenay is a former railway station – now closed to passengers except as a bus station – in the town of Parthenay, in the department of Deux-Sèvres, western France. It was formerly a junction on the Chemins de Fer de l'État main line from Paris (via Thouars and Parthenay) to Niort and Bordeaux, with branch lines running to Poitiers and Bressuire. However, only the lines to Niort and Thouars survive, today carrying no more than the occasional freight train.

The station is currently served by a long-distance bus service from Nantes to Poitiers that forms part of the SNCF's TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine network, and by inter-urban buses of the Réseau routier des Deux-Sèvres connecting Parthenay to Niort, Bressuire, Thouars, and other local towns and villages. The station buildings remain open, and contain separate booking offices for SNCF and Réseau des Deux-Sèvres bus services.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Parthenay station” as former railway station in Parthenay, France. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Parthenay, station and former.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current 145-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Parthenay, station and former providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Parthenay station”, the useful work is to connect “former railway station in Parthenay, France” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3097255. Authority coordinates are 46.648, -0.240. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Parthenay station”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Parthenay station primary sources, Parthenay station archive and Parthenay research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Parthenay station”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Parthenay station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.