Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The château de Chèreperrine, located in Origny-le-Roux in Orne, finds its origins in the 15th century as a feudal mansion ravaged during the Hundred Years War. At the beginning of the 16th century, it belonged to the family of Baraton, then passed to the Rohans before being acquired in 1539 by Martin de Chauray, treasurer of the Viscount of Rohan. In 1553, the estate was completed in 1565. After decades of fragmentation and the wars of Religion, the mansion was sold in 1625 to Claude de Fontenay, whose heirs gave it in 1700 to the Marquis Pierre Puchet des Alleurs, ambassador and military.

In 1704, Puchet des Alleurs entrusted the Parisian architect Pierre-Alexis Delamair with the transformation of the mansion into a classic castle, with a central forebody flanked by two wings and a French-style park. The estate, with a chapel, a cooler and outbuildings organized around a court of honor, passed in 1728 to financial Abraham Peyrenc of Moras, then in 1769 to François de Nogué, a Bear merchant linked to the Laborde. The Revolution spared the castle, despite the Terror which decimated the Nogué family between 1793 and 1794. In the 19th century he entered the family of La Ferronnays, then was acquired in 1883 by Count Félix de Lévis-Mirepoix, mayor of Origny-le-Roux and monarchist deputy.

A fire in 1924 partially destroyed the castle, removing two lateral spans and the floor under roof, replaced by a balustrade concealing the cover. Reconstructed by Lévis-Mirepoix, in 1939-1940 the castle received works from the evacuated Louvre, including Les Noces de Cana de Veronase and Le Sacre de Napoléon de David. During the occupation, the paintings are transferred to the south of France to escape German requisitions. Ranked a historic monument in 1989, the estate today retains its honorary courtyard, dry moat, chapel and landscaped park, testimony to its rich architectural and historical past.

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