Manoir de la Masselinée: A Fifteenth-Century Manor House in France
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Manor House
On this page6 sections
History
The Manoir de la Masselinée is a fifteenth-century manor house in Saint-Martin-de-Mailloc, France. Its estate was a fief, a medieval landholding associated with rights and obligations, and belonged to the Mailloc family.
Around 1430, Marie de Mailloc, widow of Jean de Tournebu, sold the estate to Pierre Cauchon, bishop of Lisieux. In 1441, Cauchon gave it to the cathedral. The manor’s façades and roofs have been protected as a listed French historic monument since 26 December 1928.
Remains
The residence stands on the west-facing slope of a hill above the Orbiquet valley, about one kilometre northwest of Saint-Martin church. The Orbiquet flows into the Touques. The rectangular manor is timber-framed, with a wooden structural frame, and has a pitched roof with two large gabled dormers, raised window structures projecting from the roof. It is also known as the Manoir des Samsons.
Manor House
Fifteenth-Century Central Section
The central section dates to the fifteenth century and is entirely timber-framed. On its south façade, two ground-floor doorways stand side by side. The upper floor projects beyond the wall below, supported by beams.
Later Extensions
An extension on the courtyard-entrance side was added at an undetermined date. Its ground floor is stone, while the upper floor is timber-framed. The projecting gable has diagonal corner beams and heavily shaped crosspieces. On the opposite side of the central section, a second addition of unknown date has a smaller timber-framed upper structure, a slightly lower roof and a small dormer.
Outbuildings
A barn, cider press, cellar, shed, byre and stable are scattered around the residence.
