Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de la Roche, located in Noyant-la-Gravoyère (Maine-et-Loire), replaces a fortified medieval mansion formerly belonging to the Scépeaux family. This estate, under the control of the seigneury of the Roche d'Iré, was acquired in 1773 by Louis de Dieusy (or Godsie), who had the former mansion shaved to build the present building from 1788. The castle adopts a rectangular plan with an elevated ground floor, a square floor and a half-storey, marked by distinct central ressalts with north and south facades. The walls on the floors feature bricks, while the basement houses vaulted rooms such as a kitchen, bakery and cellars.

In the 19th century, the property passed to Charles-Clovis Brillet de Candé in 1802, who undertook major renovations. The regular garden was transformed into an English park around 1877 by landscape architect J. Chevalier, while the communes, built in the same year, replaced the former courtyard. These outbuildings include stables, a cowhouse, a henhouse and a cartretery. Between 1914 and 1921, architect Ernest Bricard rearranged the vestibule and probably the interior panels, thus modernising the interior of the castle.

The estate also housed artisanal activities: Louis de Dieusy installed a pottery factory and a brick factory in the 18th century. Under the Baron of Candé, the production extended to dishes and terracotta statues (1818), before stopping around 1835 for pottery, although the manufacture of bricks continued until the end of the 19th century. The castle, which was listed as a historical monument in 2003, preserves protected elements such as its facades, roofs and commons, testimony to its architectural and functional evolution.

The park, redesigned in the 19th century, extends around the castle and includes a vegetable garden and an orchard in the northeast. The communes, organised around a central court, reflect the domestic and agricultural organisation of the estate. Starting in the 1980s, the castle will house the private school institution Pierre Grise, adding an educational dimension to its recent history.

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