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Origin and history

The fortified ensemble of the chapel and the bridge of Chevré, located in La Bouëxière in Ille-et-Vilaine, is an emblematic vestige of a castral village of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Founded around 1151 by Robert III de Vitré to counter his rivals of the Goranton-Hervé family, the site includes a castral motte, a stone dungeon built around 1225-1234 by André III de Vitré, as well as a Romanesque chapel dedicated to Saint-André. The 13th century bridge, wrongly referred to as the Roman bridge, crossed the Weir of the Chevré pond and testified to the strategic importance of the place.

The town of Chevré was a major commercial and judicial centre in the Middle Ages, home to a fortified weekly market and a chestnut forest with high justice rights. In the 13th century, André III de Vitré, in conflict with the Duke of Brittany Pierre Mauclerc, strengthened fortifications after attacks. The site also includes a medieval fishery and remains of buildings such as the house of Sénéchal (15th century). The chapel, rebuilt in the 16th century, preserves Romanesque elements and traces of missing decorations.

Ranked a historic monument in 1995, the fortified ensemble illustrates the feudal dynamics of Brittany, between changing alliances and local rivalries. The ruins of the dungeon, exploited as a quarry in the eighteenth century, and the burial plates of the chapel (17th century) recall its seigneurial past. The bridge, with its seven arches in broken arch, and the 11-metre high motte, highlight medieval military engineering. Today, the site offers a rare testimony of the spatial and social organization of a Breton castral village.

Historical sources, such as the writings of Paul Banéat (1927) or Jean-Baptiste Ogée (1778), describe Chevré as a strategic place surrounded by forests and ponds, with an economy based on fishing, the skin trade and agriculture. The legend combines the site with the ancient Gallo-Roman city of Gannes, although there is no archaeological evidence to support it. The current remains, both communal and private, remain partially accessible, preserving the memory of a turbulent feudal past.

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