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Origin and history

The Château du Coudray-Montbault, located in Saint-Hilaire-du-Bois (now a delegated commune of Lys-Haut-Layon en Maine-et-Loire), derives its name from two origins: "coudray", designating a grove of wild hazelnuts, and "Montbault", linked to the seigneury of the Papin family in the 13th century. The site, perched on a hill, offers a wide panorama and was a strategic point of the Brittany walk.

Founded in 1156 by Geoffroy de Pontail, squire, the priory of Santiago welcomed seven to eight Augustine monks until the Revolution, also serving as a stage for the pilgrims of Compostela. The chapel, dedicated to Saint Barbe, was to protect the area from fires. In the 13th century, the Papin, lords of Montbault, built a 12 tower castle surrounded by moat and defensive ditches, destroyed during the Hundred Years' War. Its ruins still remain in the northwest corner of the courtyard.

In the 16th century Honorat de la Haye Montbault, vidame du Mans, built a Renaissance castle in red bricks and green enamel, inspired by Norman models. Unfinished (the planned symmetry was never respected), it included a monumental staircase, an oratory, and a gallery. Honorat offered to the priory a Tomblay carved by Michel Colombe, as well as a lying today visible in the chapel. The estate, owned by the Hague until the 18th century, was ravaged by a fire in 1793 during the Vendée wars.

Restored in the 19th century by M. Bourgeois, then completely rehabilitated in the 20th century, the castle lost its agricultural vocation (a farm once occupied the commons) to French and English gardens. Although still inhabited and not open to the public, it has been protected since 1965: the facades, roofs, moats and remains of the castle are inscribed, while the Saint-Jacques Prioral Chapel, with its interior decoration (frescoes, gissing, Mise au Tombeau), is classified as historical monuments.

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