Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

Château de la Forge, located in Chailland, Mayenne, is a modern building built near the site of the former mansion of Aubert, whose name it inherited. It is 1500 metres north of the village, overlooking the Ernée Valley and the edge of the Mayenne Forest. This castle replaces a medieval mansion mentioned in 1409, including lands, mills and seigneurial rights related to the castle of Ernée. The seigneury was then obliged to pay a size to the lords of Montaudin and other vassals of Mayenne.

The forges of Chailland, founded in 1550 by François de Lorraine, Lord of Mayenne, marked the local industrial history for nearly three centuries. They were fed by the woods of the Mayenne forest and the driving force of the Ernée, producing iron and cast iron, with a peak of activity in the seventeenth century (800,000 pounds of iron per year). The ore came mainly from Bourgneuf-la-Forêt, and the establishment employed up to 500 workers and 400 horses at its peak.

In 1657 Cardinal Mazarin acquired the forge, which became a dependence of the Duchy of Mayenne. During the Revolution in 1794, the forge was requisitioned for the casting of cannons, before declining in the 19th century under the influence of foreign competition, especially British. It finally ceased its activity around 1863. The present castle, surrounded by the remains of the forges, was listed as historical monuments in 1992.

The chapel of Saint Charles, built on the site of the former chapel of Saint John d'Aubert (mentioned in the 15th century), houses stained-glass windows painted by Léon-Auguste Ottin in 1878. This chapel, in Romanesque style, still served as a meeting place for a patronage of young people in the late 19th century. The ruins of the forges, the workers' houses and the canalized bed of the Ernée today testify to this flourishing industrial past.

Among the figures related to the site, René Le Vayer, Sieur du Saulay, lived at the forges in 1558, while Michel-René Maupetit, during the Terror, studied geology and astronomy. Armand-Charles de La Porte de La Meilleraye gave the chapel of Aubert in 1678. Finally, Henri de Chavagnac, Marquis de Chavagnac, bought the estate in 1834, marking the gradual end of metallurgical activity.

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