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Heritage classified

Origin and history

Fourneux Manor House is an 18th-century building located in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire (49) in the Pays de la Loire region. This monument, partly listed in the inventory of Historic Monuments since 1971, is distinguished by its facades, roofs, as well as its chapel and its escape, elements protected by ministerial decree. Its architecture reflects the characteristics of the seigneurial or bourgeois mansions of this period, although its detailed history and original owners remain little documented in the available sources.

The location of the mansion, near Saumur, a city marked by its heritage linked to the Loire and horseback riding, suggests an anchoring in a territory where noble mansions and houses played a central role in social and economic organization. In the 18th century, this region was known for its wine-growing activities, its river trade, and the presence of an influential local aristocracy or bourgeoisie. Manor houses such as Fourneux often served as secondary residences or management centres for agricultural estates, while embodying the prestige of their owners.

The protected elements of the mansion, i.e. the facades, the roofs, the chapel and the runaway (pigeon tree), testify to the symbolic and practical importance of these buildings. The escape, in particular, was a social status marker, reserved for lords or landowners authorized to raise pigeons. The partial listing of the manor house as a Historical Monuments in 1971 underscores its heritage value, although the accessible archives do not specify the exact reasons for this protection or any restorations that have been sustained since then.

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