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Origin and history

The Church Farm, located in Boissei-la-Lande in Orne, is an architectural complex dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. It includes a 16th-century manor house built into a enclosure, as well as 17th-century buildings, a castral mot, a tithe barn and a press. The complex, in the shape of a quadrilateral, has been protected under the Historic Monuments since 1986, especially for its facades, roofs and a wooden staircase with square balusters.

Originally, the seigneury of Boissei belonged to Pierre de Heudey, squire, before being ceded to the Viel des Parquets family. Lucas Viel, Argentan bourgeois and controller of the royal estate, anobished in 1629, is probably the builder of the mansion. His brother, Jean Viel, was parish priest of Boissei. The seigneury then passed on to several generations, including the families of Roncherolles, Le Brun and Gougeon, before being bought in 1968 by André Renaudin, then in 1977 by Pierrette Fesch, who began his restoration.

The architecture of the farm reflects its seigneurial role: square towers, moats, round turret pierced by murderers, and a wooden staircase called "in abbot calf". The feudal motte, where the lord received the confession, and the remains of the moat recall its medieval origin. The farm also housed a courtroom, oblivions and a laundromat serving as a slaughterhouse, illustrating its importance in local life.

In 1985, Pierrette Fesch created the Boissei association, once and become to save the site from ruin. Thanks to volunteers, the farm was rehabilitated and added to the additional inventory of Historic Monuments in 1986. Today, it bears witness to the seigneurial and agricultural history of Normandy, combining medieval and classical heritage.

The protected elements include the castral motte, the facades and roofs of the manor houses of the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the wooden staircase. The site, next to the church, preserves traces of its feudal past, such as the moat once fed by a fountain, and a round turret dating from the 16th century, the oldest part of the whole.

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