Château de la Villette en Mayenne

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Origin and history

Château de la Villette is a building located in Longuefuye, in the department of Mayenne, in the Pays de la Loire region. 500 metres from the village, it is crossed by the brook de la Villette, tributary of Les Aillères. This fief historically belonged to the seigneury of Forges and, in the rear-fief, to Entrammes. The archives mention a mansion on ancient maps, as well as a seigneurial house surrounded by garennes, vineyards and enjoying rights in the local church.

During the French Revolution, the site was a military gathering place. On 13 Sept. 1799 the division of Marin-Pierre Gaullier organized to count the uplifts of the neighbouring cantons. Louis Coquereau, hidden two years during the Terror before reappearing as adjutant-major, participated. The castle also housed a murated hiding place that served as refuge for refractory priests. Two inhabitants of La Petite-Villette, Pierre and Jacques Abafour, arrested in 1794 for "rigandage", were finally acquitted.

Architecturally, the castle consists of a body of rectangular houses flanked by a turret on the façade. An isolated pavilion, perhaps an old chapel, and a tower disappeared in the 19th century, vestige of an older mansion surrounded by moat, completed the whole. At the end of the 19th century, the salons preserved portraits of the Guays des Touches family, testimonies of the former lords of the place.

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