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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The château de Chelé, located in Hambers in Mayenne (Pays de la Loire), is mentioned as early as 616 in the will of Bertrand, bishop of Le Mans, under the name Calviaco. This major medieval site preserves the remains of a Roman dungeon and a 13th century seigneurial residence, joined to a chapel and surrounded by moat. An original castral motte, potentially intact, as well as a Gaulish stele discovered in the courtyard attest to an ancient occupation, reinforced by a dense network of Gallic and Roman roads nearby (the way from Le Mans to Jublains passes 1 km to the south).

In the Middle Ages, Chelé was a vassal chestnut of the Barony of Sillé, with seigneurial rights (high, medium and low justice) and economic resources such as mills (water and wind), ponds and forests used for grazing. The castle, already in ruins in the 16th century, housed a chapel of Notre-Dame inscribed in the Pouillé du Mans in the 15th century, as well as a 12th century doorway, considered the oldest house in the department. The remains also include murals in the large hall and carved stones used in the chapel.

The seigneury of Chelé changed hands several times, from the Knights of Chelé (XII-14th centuries) to the families of Couesmes, Landivy, and then Bouillé after 1545. Among the notable figures, Geoffroy de Chelé (1210) was opposed to the religious of Évron for forest rights, while Marguerite Machefer (15th century) rebuilt the ogival castle and the chapel of Montaigu. The site, classified as Historic Monument in 2010, illustrates the evolution of a feudal estate, from the Gaulish era to the Renaissance, with unique archaeological and architectural traces in Mayenne.

The church of St. Mark, built in the 12th century by the knights of Chelé, remains only by its Romanesque choir with square bedside, adorned with a 13th century turf Virgin and ogival windows. A chapelry of Notre Dame, founded before the 17th century, was active until the 1970s, with Masses celebrated on 25 April. The site also preserves the ruins of a flour mill operated by the stream of Chelé, 2.3 km long, and the moors mentioned in the feudal confessions (such as the moor of Mongouin, 200 newspapers).

Medieval sources, such as the Cartular d'Evron (989) or the archives of the Mézangers Rock, reveal the strategic importance of Chelé, linked to conflicts of justice (a man drowned in the pond in 1459) or to disputed rights of use. In 1478, René d'Alençon confirmed to the inhabitants the right of grazing in the Langé forest against 100 bushels of oats. The estate, sold in 1771 with the Rocher de Mézangers, included land, ponds, and the seigneury of Hambers, reflecting its central role in the local economy until the modern epoch.

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