This cache was placed celebrate the wedding of some good friends. The cache is best found walking as there is limited parking on the road. However, there is space to park one car at the cache's location. There are beautiful villages nearby that you can also park up at and start your walk from. A little further afield are the towns of Belleme and Mortange-au-Perche which are also worth a visit but are a little far to walk from.
Cette cache a été placé célébrer le mariage de quelques bons amis. Le cache est juste à l'extérieur un beau château avec une riche histoire comme détaillé ci-dessous. Le cache est mieux trouvé la marche comme stationnement y est limité sur la route. Il ya de beaux villages à proximité que vous pouvez garer et commencer à votre pied de. Un peu plus loin sont les villes de Bellême et Mortange-au-Perche qui méritent également une visite, mais sont un peu loin à pied de.
Blavou was a very large forest but is now superseded by the nearby Belleme Woods. In the middle ages, the owners took the name of Seigner Blavou. The nearby church was called St Denis of Blavou. In the 12th century, the owners lived in what was called a Motte Castrale, a building made of wood, built in the exact same site of the current Chateau.
During the 100 Years War, we are unsure of who exactly lived at the site. However, from 1417 to 1490, we do know that English people lived there and that they were chiefs of some sort. Certainly at one point Lord Bedford resided at the Chateau when the family took the name ‘Earl of Perche'. The first in line took the further name, Mortagne of Salisbury. He was killed at the Battle of Orleans with Joan of Arc.
In 1490, when the Governor of Perche was the Earl of Warwick, all the English people living at the Chateau were killed and the Chateau and church were also destroyed by a combination of war and illness. Sometime after this, a new structure was built being a new Chateau and manor house.
Blavou was certainly one of the oldest castles in the area and probably dates from the late 1400's to the early 1500's. It was a big building, although simple with windows in the shape of a cross carved in stone known as 'fenêtres à meneau'. There were towers at the 4 corners which would have been square. In addition, there was a moat around the Chateau for protection, called Douves. There was also a coat of arms for Blavou being the Catinet family coat of arms
The Chateau was in an area where there were a lot of iron works and forges and so it was an industrial area although farming took place as well. It was restricted because of the forests which made the area unsuitable for agriculture. Because of the abundance of timber, wooden clogs were made in great numbers . In addition, because the soil was mainly clay, bricks were also made.
At or around this time, the ancient castle of St Denis, or Giles de Pontribriand was also re-built, although re-constructed again in the 19thcentury.
By the early 1500's the Blavou family had become very large and were known by the name of Cantinat. The father of the family was a lawyer and had 16 children.
One of these children was Nicolas who joined the French army as an officer. He was to win many battles for Louis 14th. He eventually became Marechal of France. He was a friend of the Bourbons and subsequently fought many battles in Italy. It was he who captured Nice for the French King. He had 10 children living at his death when the children divided his property and Chateau de Blavou was sold to the De Vannsay de Blavous family, ancestors of de Pontbriand. The mother of Giles de Pontbriand, the current mayor, was a de Vensay.
Giles de Pontbriand still lives at the Chateau de St Denis about ¼ mile from Chateau de Blavou. There is now a church next to his chateau called Eglise St Denis sur Huisne. An underground tunnel connects the church and Chateau de Blavou. There is also an underground tunnel into the nearby woods. These tunnels were used to enable the family to escape when the Chateau was under attack.
The de Vannsay de Blavous lived at Blavou and were known as de Vannsay de Blavous. They remained at the Chateau until the Revolution. Because they had been kind to the locals and had young children themselves, their property was not seized by the revolutionaries.
By 1860, the family were very rich and used some of their money to modernise the Chateau. They wanted a gothic style chateau and so built stairs and balustrades with windows in the roof. It was the fashionable thing to do at that time.
During the First World War, 8 members of the family called de Vannsay de Blavous were killed. They moved out of the Chateau before the invasion of France by the Germans. They now live in the Sarthe area of France and in Paris
During the Second World War the Chateau was not used by the Germans. The Germans did occupy the nearby town of Mortagne au Perche and used it as a base to seek out resistance leaders and activists of which there were many in the area.
When the Allied invasion started in 1944, it became a hospital for injured American and French soldiers.