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Origin and history

The Petit-Béru mansion is a seigneurial building located in Vallon-sur-Gée, Sarthe. It is distinguished by its house surrounded by a wall flanked by turrets in pepper, remains of a fortified enclosure once closed with walls and moats. The court of honour is lined with agricultural outbuildings, while the main house, covered with a dardian roof, is decorated with a turret of cylindrical staircase and two truncated turrets. In the west, a terraced garden overlooks a room of water, remains of an old pond fed by the brook of the Rigaudières.

The mansion was rebuilt around 1490 by Pierre de Champagne, lord of Vallon, on the ruins of a fortified house destroyed by the English during the Hundred Years War. In 1594, Jehanne Guillart, lady of the Mortier, obtained permission to strengthen the mansion to protect himself from troubles in Maine County under Henry IV. In 1604 she had to sell the property to Jacques Regnauldin, Sieur de Vaux, who undertook major renovations, such as the reconstruction of the salette and the kitchen, as well as the maintenance of the fortifications.

Partially listed as historical monuments in 1976, the mansion retains remarkable elements, such as its facades, roofs, fireplaces and interior staircase. The commons have been included in the additional inventory since the same date. The site illustrates the architectural and social evolution of the seigneurial houses between the Middle Ages and the modern era.

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