Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Dervallières Castle, located in the current Dervallières-Zola district in Nantes, was originally a seigneurial residence built by the Derval family, branch of the house of Dinan-Laval. In the 15th century, this fief, endowed with the right of high justice, extended over a vast territory including neighboring seigneuries such as Garoterie and Carcouët. The property was acquired in 1494 by Françoise de Dinan, Countess of Laval, before being passed on to Breton figures such as Jean François de Cardonne, Receiver General of Finance, and then to the Tissart, Argy and Breil families.

In 1578, the estate was sold to Georges Morin, treasurer of Brittany, then passed into the hands of the Bonnin de Messignanc before being assigned in 1699 to Louis Daussain. In 1701, John I Stapleton, a rich Irish slave trader in Santo Domingo, bought 64,000 pounds and expanded for his son, John II Stapleton. The castle was the setting for prestigious weddings, such as Julienne Stapleton's wedding with Jean-Baptiste Mac Nemara in 1713, celebrated in his chapel.

In the 19th century, Michel Guillet de La Brosse built a new tuffeau house nearby, surrounded by outbuildings, gardens and woods. The estate changed hands by inheritance before being partially destroyed in the 20th century: the HLM of the 1950s-1960s occupied part of the site, and the 19th century castle was razed in the 1980s. Today, only part of the park remains, the dovecote, the basin and the facade of the central pavilion.

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