Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château du Frêne, also known as the Fresne, is a monument located in Sacé, in the department of Mayenne, in the Pays de la Loire region. Located 3,500 metres southeast of the village, it is on the road connecting Laval to Mayenne. Mentioned in 1260 under the name Le Fresne which is in the parroisse of Sacé, he was originally a fief of Laval County, with limited land justice. His story is marked by topographical confusions, such as that of Hubert Jaillot who assimilates him to Bléray.

In 1685, the seigneurial house was described with precision: a lower room with fireplace, an antechamber, a kitchen, an office, an attic, a cellar, all covered in slate, as well as a tower housing a stone staircase. A chapel, originally dedicated to Saint Joseph, Saint Roch and Saint Charles, was founded that year by Ambroise Duchemin de la Gimbertière and Renée Bidault, in fulfilment of the wishes of René Foucher, parish priest of Thuboeuf. The chapel, with three weekly Masses, will later be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The estate also included a large walled garden, flanked by two towers, now missing.

Around 1820, the house was raised from one floor, while the stairway tower and the garden tower were removed. The chapel retains local importance, notably thanks to a statue of the Virgin erected in 1803 on a roadside column, becoming an object of devotion. The castle thus illustrates the architectural and religious transformations of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries in this rural area.

Historical sources, such as the Dictionnaire de la Mayenne (Angot & Gaugain, 1900–1910), underline its role as a modest but structuring fief for the parish. The ecclesiastical archives and the notes of Abbé Delépine complete this knowledge, without revealing any notable lords other than the founders of the chapel. Today, the castle is one of the heritage buildings of the Mayenne, a discreet witness to local history.

External links