The church seems to be mentioned for the first time in the written record in 1139, as belonging to the fields of the Abbey of Cormery, as well as the priory of Saint Foy d' Ussé (opposite the chateau) and of the Hermitage of Saint Paul, a little more to the east (a document of Pope Innocent II testifies some to this).

In the search for older origins, excavations carried out by CNRS around the church since 1986, prove that the site of the church was already occupied by the gallo-roman era (shards of pottery date back to this time); in fact these excavations were especially interested in the “combined cemetery and dwellings ” which surrounded the church. They revealed that the first burials go back to the year 684 and are thus quite prior to the first mention of the church. A place of worship thus undoubtedly already existed there at that time. The vestiges of two older churches have been discovered under that which we know.

Curiously, the center of the transept crossing is occupied by a staircase going down towards what seems to be the wall of a crypt on the one hand, or a well on the other hand, currently entirely underwater. Indeed, since the middle of the 18th century, but only since, it is mentioned as a miraculous spring which would cure “le mal des femmes”.  The relation between the funerary occupation of a place of worship and the existence of a “miraculous spring” on the site, although probably extremely old, to date neither is formally established nor dated.

These excavations have revealed that the cemetery and dwellings co-existed together around the church; moving towards the south of the church, the dwellings ended up disappearing, leaving a cemetery of some 720m2 which remained in use until 1865, as is explained further.

In the 15th century, the area of Saint Benoît-la-Forêt and Rigny was visited regularly by king Louis XI, who often came to mass at Notre Dame de Rigny and signed ordinances and missives there.

With the passing of the centuries, and certainly since the 16th century, the hamlet of Rigny, in its small valley, moved towards the village of Ussé, near the chateau. The Notre Dame church and the cemetery nevertheless remained the center of worship and burial of the parish of Rigny until the middle of the 19th century. Until this time a chapter of canons served the church of the chateau and the distinguished citizens of the villages were buried in the grounds of the chateau.

The access to the “parish church” was quite inconvenient: one went from the village (close to the chateau) to the church by a path called “the way of the mass” which crossed the forest to the western entry of the church, a path which still exists today. Indeed, the “thalweg” (the lowest line of a depression) of the small valley was arranged in a way suitable for vehicles only in 1843!

Under Napoleon III, four fifths of the population of the village lived in “Ussé” (around the chateau) and the rest in “Rigny” (in the small valley). At that time, the Marchioness de la Rochejacquelin, owner of the chateau of Ussé, received an significant donation from a Lady Georget, for the pupose of building a new church in the borough of Ussé. Following arrangements concluded with the community:

• the new church was built (1858 - 1859),
• the community surrendered the church of Notre Dame de Rigny to Mme de la Rochejacquelin (along with a few ares of ground around it), under the condition that it be maintained in state and that access by pilgrims and other manifestations of worship would be guaranteed.
• Mme de la Rochejacquelin gave land to the community to create the new communal cemetery there, which was put into service in 1865.

Notre Dame thus became the property of the chateau… and alone in its small valley. In 1885, the family of Blacas acquired the chateau and has owned it since then.They also assumed responsibilty for the maintainence of the church Notre Dame de Rigny.

In 1930, the count Louis de Blacas, mayor of Rigny-Ussé, classified the church as an Historic building, with all the advantages and the disadvantages that that comprises: the obligations of maintenance, the requirement to work under the control of the architects of the Monuments of France and the limited subsidies available.

In fact, after the war from 1940-45, certain work was accomplished: three “chainings” (metal stems crossing the building right through to stabilize the external walls) were put in place but the church, open to the winds, was degraded quickly by vandalism and the collapse of part of the vault of the nave.

At the end of the Seventies, the Blacas family proposed that the community of Rigny-Ussé repurchase the place but this was refused, in light of the vastness of the task. In 1983, the church (and 22 ares of ground around) were sold, for a symbolic one franc, to the “Association du Parc Forestier de Teillay”, chaired by Dr. Marc Jacquet. The association would later become the ASSOCIATION NOTRE DAME DE RIGNY.