La Bretonnière

English translation

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History

In the feudal period, Mureils was a land of the archbishops of Vienne and the sub-fief of the barons of Clérieu, belonging in 1283 to the Moirans, who sold it to the Alleman. At this time, La Bretonnière is designated as a fortified house. Successive alterations made it a comfortable gentleman's residence. According to the cadastral register of Mureils, La Bretonnière was enlarged in 1879 by its owner the viscount of Larnage. The estate then comprised: castle, barn house, stables and shed, a courtyard, terraces, copses, arable land, orchards, woods, farm buildings and gardens. In 1894, the viscount of Larnage ceded the domain of La Bretonnière to the Ballet-Gallifet, Lyon merchants. At the turn of the 20th century, the decorations of the living spaces were in place, dining room and drawing room, featuring wainscoting, ceramics, woodwork, French ceilings, as well as a Chinese drawing room according to 19th-century fashion.

Description

Fortified house in its original construction, probably dating from the 13th century, the main dwelling was remodelled in the 15th or early 16th century. With two circular towers that overlook the platform of the terrace and the Renaissance entrance tower, the steep roofs of these medieval parts are topped with slates. Comfort elements were added in the 18th century, according to the form of the openings overlooking the garden and the wainscoting that adorns certain rooms. On the Napoleonic cadastre (1825) the building appears to be organized around a courtyard closed on three sides, with a building block along the lane, an arrangement that has been modified since. According to the literature, there was a chapel in this courtyard, which was dismantled in the 19th century. Two narrow buildings extend the original building, one from the 19th century to the north, in which are found the kitchen, access to the cellar, the garage and the other on older but undetermined bases, with a tower at its southern extremity, separating the courtyard from the garden, is designated as "the commandery". An orangery, an arms room and an apartment are found there. The outbuildings and dependencies have no particular features, except a round tower, to the east, which served as a dovecot. Inside, the main drawing room and the dining room have retained their decorations from the 19th-20th centuries. The entire estate is very picturesque, but has lost, through successive modifications, all architectural coherence. The exteriors were the subject of a reorganisation of the arrangement according to two projects preserved by the Lyon landscape architect Joseph Linossier. Over three hectares, a formal garden, a vegetable garden, an orchard, terraced meadows and woods extend to the boundary of the property, which is surrounded by walls. The composition has evolved, but the different parts can still be distinguished. A spring supplies the estate, from which the water for an old fish pond basin is drawn. The spring itself was a place of pilgrimage to the Holy Thorn, named after a relic formerly kept in the chapel that stood in the courtyard of the property.