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Origin and history

The farm of the Grand House, located in Bécon-les-Granits in Maine-et-Loire, is an architectural testimony of the sixteenth century. Built in local gold granite, it is distinguished by its two-slope roof between rounded gables, slate shale chimneys, and finely ground gabled bays. Originally located on the Rennes road, its main access was reversed after the creation of a new way under Napoleon III. A square turret, now reduced, and a well with open margins (formerly surmounted by an angeline pavilion in slate) complete this set.

The Grand House was first a seigneurial property linked to influential families such as the Ragots, the Bodards (notaries and tax attorneys of the Baronie de Bécon), and the Scépeaux. Perrine Ragot, heiress in the 16th century, had a mass celebrated there in 1603 in a chapel today disappeared. In the 17th century, the farm became an inn, welcoming personalities such as King James Stuart II of England on the run in 1690, or a convoy of Galerians in 1691. A son of controller of the King's mouth also died there, hosted by the widowed innkeeper Chavrun.

Turned into a farm in the 19th century after its acquisition by the Viscountess of Scépeaux (1840), the Grand-Maison was attached to the estate of the Château du Bois-Guignot. Abandoned in 1962, she suffered degradation until her inscription in the Historical Monuments in 1988. Restored in the 1990s, it returned to residential use in 1992, after 30 years of disinherence. Its history reflects the social and economic changes of Anjou, from lords to farmers, as well as its role as royal inn.

The building owes its name to Jeanne de la Marqueraye (died 1527), wife of René Ragot, president of the election of Alençon. Their daughter Perrine Ragot married René Garreau, whose descendants (like Pierre Bodard, notary) marked the place until the 17th century. A stone engraved "Pierre Bodard 1645" remains, bearing this line. The Neveu family, the last to exploit the farm, left it in 1962, leaving room for a period of decline before its protection and rebirth.

Architecturally, the Grand House combines robustness and elegance: gilded granite walls, complex roofs, and defensive elements like turret. Local materials (schiste, slate) and traditional techniques (angelvin carpente) underline its territorial anchor. Despite the disappearance of some elements (chapel, well pavilion), its restoration has preserved rare details, such as detailed snake or original terracotta.

Its inscription in 1988 preserved an emblematic heritage of the Pays de la Loire, mixing noble history, peasant life, and national episodes (exile of Jacques Stuart II). Today, the farm embodies the resilience of an architectural heritage, between seigneurial memory and adaptation to contemporary uses.

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