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Origin and history

The farmhouse of the Mountain, located at Lets-le-Long in the Aisne, is a former monastic farm dependent on the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Soissons. It consists of two distinct farms: the Grande Cense and the Petite Cense. The Grande Cense, built on a rock, housed a barn and a dovecote, while the little Cense, more luxurious, included a 14th century house, probably the former castle of the abbey confessed. These two ensembles, initially separated by the road from Ambleny, were reunited in the 19th century after changes of course.

The seigneurial origin of the site dates back to at least the ninth century, with a mention in a diploma of Charles le Chauve in 858 confirming the possession of the seigneurie by the abbey. In the 14th century, the buildings of the Petite Cense, in refined style, even housed a chapel. After the recovery of the seigneury by the abbey, the premises were transformed into a farm. The fountains of the Crane and the Saint-Georges quarry, used as a barn, completed this set.

In the 18th century, the farms belonged to the family of Bonardi, then passed to the De Bonnethout and the de Luze. In 1803 de Bonardi obtained the detour of the route of the White Cross to gather the two farms. Separated again after 1900, they were acquired by the Ferté family. The site, inscribed in the historic monuments in 1997, retains major architectural elements: the house of the 14th century (renovated), the medieval barn, and traces of the economic evolution of the farms of the Soissonnais.

The architecture of the site reveals a historical stratification: terraces and staggered buildings evoke a hamlet, while the modifications of the 18th and 20th centuries (such as the gathering of farms or the transformations of the barn) illustrate the adaptations to agricultural needs. The mention of a missing chapel and the dovecote underlines the symbolic and practical importance of the site for the confessed lords and then for the abbey.

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