A great chapter of history of France



The feudal site of Lauresse (or Loresse) dates from the 11th century.

The feudal castle belonged to the MONTIBUS family, vassals of ROTROU de MONTFORT and his wife Lucie de GENNES.At the end of the 12th century, Hugues des Monts, lord of Lauresse, took part in the 3rd crusade and was made Seneschal of Antioch.The feudal castle was probably destroyed during the Hundred Years War.



The present castle was built during the second half of the 17th century. There are two assumptions concerning the exact date of its construction, either around 1650/1670 by Pierre II de MONTMORENCY-LAURESSE, or later, towards the end of the century by Marguerite de GENNES who would have chosen Siméon GARANGEAU, architect of VAUBAN, as the main architect of Château de Lauresse.
The castle has not been changed since this date – it is the brick that serves the architectural decoration for the bay frames, the pilasters and the bands of the castle.
The whole building gives an impression of classicism and French tradition, owing to its games of volumes, its front and back parts (this is one of the first cases of Ile de France architecture in Sarthe).
These parts of Château de Lauresse are listed in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments:- the facades and roofs of the castle and the two pavilions,- 4 fireplaces on the ground floor of the castle.



Some illustrious names have lived in Lauresse:- MONTMORENCY/LAVAL and MONTMORENCY/FOSSEUX family,- Charles de LISCOUET, Seneschal of MAINE and his wife Marguerite de GENNES,- Jacques PINEAU de VIENNAY, lord of Grand-Lucé, intendant of Alsace,- Mr LORETTE Prefect of Deux-Sèvres, Mayor of Bonnetable,- Emmanuel GUILLAUME-REY, the historian, the eminent orientalist, the son of Louis Emmanuel REY, the Major q@    General, the commandant of the Napoleon's troops at the Siege of San Sébastien, Baron Guillaume Rey, officer commanding the mobiles of Eure et Loire had camped in the woods of the castle during the battles of the 10th and the 11th of January 10 in 1871.
This family occupied the castle for almost a century, its last representative, niece by marriage, being Countess Nicole d'HERBRAY de POUZALS, who died in 1980.
Since then, the Senator and Mrs. Marcel-Pierre CLEACH succeeded their friends from HERBRAY de POUZALS and continued the work of renovation undertaken by them.
We are delighted to take over this magnificent building and to continue to bring it to life and to share our passion for beautiful stones and French traditions with our guests.