Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The house of the Fontfermée, located in Naintré (Vienna), is a monument whose facades and roofs have been protected since 2022. Its history dates back to 1419, when the fief was mentioned as a dependency of the castle of the Massardière (Thure). The name of the estate evokes a fountain still visible today, enclosed in a stone building north of the house. This dot, covered with slabs, marked the identity of the place throughout the centuries.

In the 16th century, around 1580, Jehan Faulcon, royal notary at Châtellerault, became seigneur of the Fontfermée. The estate then changed hands by marriage, passing to the Chesneau-La-Touche families, and then to the Fouchardière in 1808. According to oral tradition, the current house was built for Jacques-Olivier de la Fouchardière (1809–92), a lawyer and general adviser of Vienna, thanks to the funding of his maternal grandparents, probably his grandmother Marie Gilbert (1761–45). The date of construction, often advanced as 1848, could actually go back to 1838, a year after his marriage to Zoé Proa, daughter of an entrepreneur and mayor of Châtellerault.

The archives show that the couple occasionally resided in the Fontfermée, notably in 1851 and 1861, although their principal residence remained in Châtellerault. In the 19th century, the estate, on the edge of the Châtellerault forest, served primarily as a hunting residence. The only permanent occupants were then the families of the guardian and the farmer, reflecting the secondary use of the seigneurial properties of the time. The inscription of facades and roofs as a historical monument in 2022 devotes their heritage value, linked to the social and architectural history of the region.

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