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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The tithe barn of the Merrie, located in Chenu in the Pays de la Loire, was built in the 2nd quarter of the 13th century by the chapter of the collegiate Saint-Martin de Tours. This building combined the functions of house and warehouse to store the tithe, a tax levied in kind (cereals, agricultural products). The chapter, which held the rights of justice on the fief de la Merrie, appointed a mayor to do justice and collect tax.

In the 14th century, the canons transferred their rights to the fief to the provost of Anjou, which perpetuated the system of perception. The barn remained a central place for local government until the French Revolution, where it was sold as a national property. The building, a witness to the medieval seigneurial and religious organization, was classified as a historic monument on 18 October 1993 for its heritage value.

Architecturally, the barn illustrates the duality of tidal barns: storage space for crops and place of power for representatives of the chapter or the provost. Its history reflects the political changes between the Middle Ages and the modern era, marked by the transition from ecclesiastical structures to the revolutionary state. Today, it belongs to the municipality of Chenu and retains a place in the local Sardinian heritage.

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