Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The château des Rochères, located at the place called Les Rochères in the commune of Meslay-du-Maine (Mayenne, Pays de la Loire), finds its origins in an estate reported as early as 1799 as a caulian den. At that time, the existing house housed an underground arsenal, with a deep cellar protected by an iron door, serving as a cache for powder between Laval and Château-Gontier.

The present Renaissance building was erected between 1857 and 1859 by architect Pierre-Félix Delarue for Pauline Carré du Rocher and her husband, Gabriel Pineau de Viennay. The castle is distinguished by a double facade: in the north, a central pavilion with cut strips flanked by two corbelled turrets decorated with brick mosaics; south, three rectangular pavilions. Father Angot, in the 19th century, describes a picturesque view of the church of Meslay, overlooking a valley watered with canals and a large room of water, all bordered by a futai and an oak driveway of 500 meters.

In 1939, the estate and its five surrounding hectares were requisitioned to accommodate the Camp des Rochères and the Poterie. This site, marked by successive owners since 1830, passed into the hands of noble families such as the Breton de Villeneuve, the Carré du Rocher, or the Pineau de Viennay, before being passed on to the Counts of La Bourdonnaye-Montluc in 1927. Its history thus combines architectural heritage, caulian resistance and military transformations.

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