Ferme monastique de Meslay

English translation

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History

This farm formerly depended on the abbey of Marmoutier, built in the early 13th century. It is a very interesting example of a medieval agricultural holding. It presents to the west a large door raised on a square plan and crossed on the ground floor by a wide vaulted passage. Above, the first storey contained a vast hall with coffered roof structure. To the north part of the old enclosure wall remains, simple masonry of rubble stone, reinforced externally by buttresses. The barn stands in the east part of the enclosure. It is a vast low and elongated construction, bounded on the short sides by gable walls. A wide round-arch door surmounted by a slender gable leads inside, divided into five naves of thirteen bays by four rows of posts. These divisions carry the roof structure and, adjoining the lateral walls, two other series of supports receive the wall-plates. This roof structure is a 15th century reconstruction. The building had indeed been devastated at the end of the 14th century by the English, before being restored in the following century.