Château de Méréglise

English translation

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History

The town of Méréglise is located 29 kilometres south-west of Chartres, near Illiers-Combray. It appears, moreover, in Proust's work under the softened appellation of Méséglise, situated, during the narrator's walks, on the Swann side. The writer never described the château of Méréglise. This one was built around 1730 for the family of Ligneris: a facing brick bears this same date engraved 1730, at the corner of an opening on the ground floor. The property was sold by the descendants of this family around 1907, after a few transfers followed by repurchases in the last quarter of the 19th century. It is thought to have been built in place of a burnt château of which no trace is found today. The archaism of the construction of the two small châtelets which accompany it, to protect access to the platform, would suggest rendering them rather contemporary with the earlier château. But the small châtelet does not appear on the first Napoleonic plan of 1804 preserved at the town hall of Méréglise. It is possible that it was built between 1804 and 1822, the date when it appears on the Napoleonic plan preserved in the cadastral records of Chartres. It thus seems that the small châtelet was built subsequent to the new château on the model of the pre-existing western châtelet. The Napoleonic cadastre of 1822 describes an architectural ensemble organized according to an east-west axis: perspective cut by the road of Méréglise, leading to a brick gateway pierced with a cart gate and a pedestrian gate, farmyard (n°73 of the Napoleonic cadastre) leading to a masonry platform (n°76) surrounded by moats. Access to this platform was effected by a small châtelet defended by a drawbridge with flails. A second châtelet is symmetrically disposed at the other end of the platform, in the same axis. The château is situated outside the axis, on the long north side of the masonry platform. In the same alignment, but separated, a building extends towards the west, for use as a stable, and a smaller building, now disappeared, is situated in the north-east corner. A hydraulic network is in place, fed by the waters of the Thironne. Water intake is effected upstream and allows three contiguous rectangular terraces to be isolated. The two larger ones (n°75 and 80), to the north and south, were used as ornamental gardens. They flanked the masonry platform of the château (n°76). The water from the moats then passed through a system of sluices into a pond (n°88) which fed the wheel of a mill placed below (n°84). The vestiges of this mill, disused around 1850, were used as ornamental features for the park, then disappeared in the early 20th century, for lack of maintenance. The diversion channel then departs downstream to rejoin the waters of the Thironne. A few old postcards show the château, particularly the south façade, and indicate the existence, at the time, of a gate closing access to the footbridge which leads to the garden situated on the south platform. The château terrace was then entirely closed by what appears to be a grille maintained by metal posts above the wall. The current cadastre offers little difference from its predecessor. The organization is still governed by the presence of the moats. The masonry parts have better resisted than the simple earthworks: the north terrace, transformed into a wooded park, is now framed only by simple ditches, often dry. The property was subdivided and sold to two different owners, as regards the built ensemble: the farmyard and the château are separated by a high wooded fence and the access to the château had to be modified. A passage was created further east, before 1932, perpendicular to the road which became rue de la Pierre-Levée, at n°2. This passage borders the old north terrace. This modified the perception of the perspective axis, which became a north-south axis. The owner amplified it by creating a central north-south avenue which crosses the south platform and which—when one is there—leads the eye very logically towards the central bay of the château, which is framed by the two châtelets disposed symmetrically on either side of the building. The buildings are still in place, with the exception of the small construction situated at the north-east corner of the château terrace. The buildings of the old farmyard have been more profoundly altered by their transformation into a dwelling (house rebuilt in 1883) and the destruction of certain buildings, including the dovecote. The two châtelets are rectangular bodies of building, simple in depth, whose façades are entirely faced with brick, under a slate roof. Their plan consists, on two levels surmounted by roof space, of three bays defined by the partition walls of the central porch. This porch opens under a segmental arch. The outer façades are decorated with grooving for the fitting of the flails of a drawbridge. The current deck is fixed. Relatively narrow openings light the levels of the two châtelets, one for each bay, with the exception of the north façades which are blind. Some have been enlarged, particularly that of the central bay, surmounted by a dormer pierced with an oculus. Although probably built at different periods, these châtelets are visually very similar. The planned restoration will doubtless allow better knowledge of their possible particularities. The interior levels have been greatly modified. The east châtelet is the exact visual counterpart of the preceding one. The roof received in the court