Perched on a rocky escarpment which dominates the Petit Lay, Mouchamps, Small Town of Character in Vendée Bocage, exudes a authenticity and a character picturesque.
The village is animated by narrow streets winding between houses and gardens. This rural town was very prosperous in the Renaissance, as evidenced by the bourgeois residences which have preserved characteristic architectural elements.
Visit to Mouchamps, Small Town of Character
Departing from Place Clémenceau, a heritage discovery trail takes you step by step into the history of Mouchamps and offers beautiful views.
The story of Mouchamps
Mouchamps, camped on its rocky escarpment, dominates the Petit Lay valley, from the Latin “mollis campo” Mol-Champ. The medieval fortress is built on the hill, Catherine de Parthenay attracts the most beautiful minds of her time: François Viète, Henri IV. During the Reformation, in the 1928th century, the Protestant community was active and settled around the temple. The Renaissance houses and then the beautiful 5th century bourgeois houses mark the prosperous economic, agricultural and artisanal activity of Mouchamps. It is the homeland of great men, Georges Clemenceau, the Tiger buried in the Colombier. Commander Lionel Guilbaud, brilliant aviator, who disappeared at sea in June XNUMX or Ernest Beaux, owner of Château des Cèdres, perfumer and creator of Chanel n°XNUMX.
The courtyard of the old castle
The feudal castle dismantled by Richelieu was located on this hillside. The courtyard of the old castle is a closed courtyard where craftsmen settle in the beautiful renovated houses, to discover the house of Pottery with its Renaissance fireplace upstairs.
Pavement
Rue du Coteau, nice view of the Chaussée, the Lay river and the Vendée bocage, you can also see the old ramparts of the castle. The Chaussée deflects the current of the Petit Lay and supplies the ordinary water mill, which became the property of the Thomas millers in the XNUMXth century. We go up by the rue de la Poterne and its terraced houses and their pretty landscaped gardens.
Le Colombier and Georges Clemenceau
Birthplace of the Clemenceau family, it is in this renaissance house that the father of Georges Clemenceau lived. Below, overlooking the Petit Lay, two twin tombs: that of Benjamin and that of Georges, father and son.
The Doctor and the Politician
It was through contact with his father, a militant republican and atheist, that the future statesman acquired the ideological principles that would guide him during his political life. He developed a taste for the arts, especially theater and painting, while becoming a doctor and a politician.
Le Tigre
Clemenceau studied in Nantes where he rubbed shoulders with republican circles. He moved to Paris in 1870, at the fall of Napoleon III. Mayor of Montmartre in 1870, then deputy of Paris in 1871, he participated in the consolidation of the Third Republic.
Elected senator in 1902, he was the leader of the Radicals. In 1906, he was the first Vendéen to enter the government since the Directory. He then became Minister of the Interior and created the “Tiger Brigades”, car brigade units responsible for prosecuting criminals.
Father Victory
It was in 1917 that Georges Clemenceau was called to the government to put an end to the Great War.
To discover Mouchamps
The discovery trail and hiking trails
Mouchamps, a village of artisans
