The chateau de la Baronnière

Postcard representing the "new" castle of the Baronnière in a neo-gothic-troubadour style.

"...The chateau of the Baronnière had been burned by the Republicans. It had been totally destroyed, along with all the surrounding farms.
Nothing remained standing except the roofless walls of the buildings that had once surrounded the square courtyard of the chateau.

Charle's widow was ruined. She refused the inheritance of the property, whose sale would have paid off the creditors, and it was put under sequestration.
This was lifted in 1798, and in 1800 the property was put up for sale, without finding a buyer. Up for sale two years later, it was bought by Joseph Arnous-Rivière, member of a ship-building family in Nantes.

There was not a single farm standing on the 2.000 acres, and in a period of small farms this could have meant the destruction of 80 per cent during the short-lived war. Everything had to be re-built.

Reconstruction occupied Joseph and his son, Baron Jules, until about 1840, when a new chateau was commissioned.
The architect for this was René Hodé, who chose for it a neo-gothic-troubadour style.
Building was finished in 1850. Below ground level the construction is in granite, with tuffeau above.
Stonework around doors and windows is carved to represent different trades. Style and execution combine to give the chateau a light-hearted and vivacious air.
Some of the large trees standing in the park date from the time of the de Bonchamps.

The Baronnière today is still in the Arnous-Rivière family..."