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Origin and history

Orenge Castle, also known as Orange Castle, is a medieval fief mentioned in 1289 under the name Feodum de Orenge. It was initially dependent on the chestnutry of Entrammes, then attached to the seigneury of Laval in the 15th century. The lords of Orenge were to provide an armed guard in time of war. Prehistoric remains, such as cut flints and a stone axe, have been discovered, attesting to an ancient occupation of the site.

The site is home to the ruins of a chestnut tree, an earth and wood fortress built on a 60-metre cliff overlooking the Mayenne. The ditches of its semicircular double enclosure, probably dating from the Middle Ages, are still visible. The family of Orenge, attested since the twelfth century, was its possessor and also owned the castle of the Feuillée. This fee was subject to annual taxes paid in mid-August, such as those of Fouilloux or Maritourne.

In the 19th century, a new castle was built at the site of the former mansion, described by Abbé Angot as a building flanked by towers, surrounded by a park of 50 hectares including meadows, woods and rocks. A white chapel, contrasting with the surrounding fir trees, overlooked the estate. An innovative hydraulic system, a ram, was then being installed to supply the castle with water from the lock of the Soul.

The Orenge family, distinct from the Perray de Montreuil family, belonged to the nobility of the former extraction. It retained the seigneury of Orenge and the Feuillé until at least the sixteenth century. Guy XII of Laval acquired the fiefs of Entrammes in 1408, including Orenge, but without the chestnutline itself. The archives also mention English and French camps on nearby hills, perhaps evoking medieval military occupations.

At the end of the 19th century, the estate was a beautiful residential place, mixing feudal heritage and modern amenities. Father Angot noted, however, that the medieval mansion, reported on ancient maps such as Cassini's, had almost completely disappeared, leaving only a small servitude building. The site thus illustrates the evolution of a medieval seigneury in aristocratic residence, then in modern land property.

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