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The story behind the Chateau
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Chateau Les Villettes is rumoured to stand upon the remains of an ancient fort with a subterranean passage crossing under the Vienne. The modern history is closely linked to that of the family Desmaisons de Bonnefont and this story begins in 1554 with the birth of Jean Desmaisons. He became consul of Limoges and gave a domaine situated at Grand-Bonnefont to his son Louis, who was born in 1586. In 1622 Louis Desmaions acquired the village of Grand-Bonnefont and built the Ch¦¢teau de Bonnefont. He was ennobled in 1628 as Seigneur du Grand-Bonnefont.
The estate grew as it was passed down through the generations. Les Villettes, as we know it today, was inherited by his great-great--great-great-grandson Andre-Joseph-Gabriel Desmaisons de Bonnefont (1791-1878), as well as the Chateau de Bonnefont. Andre-Joseph was a captain of the Royal Guard; he never married and the family name died with him. |
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Although Andre died unmarried, he clearly had a long and loving relationship with a local lady, a "cuisiniere", by the name of Mme Dutreix, who was married at the time, but without children from that marriage. However, it appears that she had eight children with the Marquis, of which only the final child, a boy, was declared to be his natural son (since he was born over one year after the death of Mr Dutreix). |
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Before his death Andre-Joseph-Gabriel Desmaisons de Bonnefont sold the lands of Les Villettes (together with the Moulin du Verdier) to Monsieur Francoise-Antoine Beaure, a banker, resident of Paris but who originated in Saint Leonard-de-Noblat. The sale was enacted on 18th December 1875 (the proceeds of the sale being given to Mme Dutreix as a dowry, on her wedding to a certain Mr Barraud, a half-brother to the chevalier Andre-Joseph-Gabriel Desmaisons de Bonnefont). |
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Mr Beaure, who worked in Paris and Italy, built a beautiful, Italianate Renaissance Chateau at Les Villettes for his wife (Delphine-Hypacie Lanouaille de Lachese, also originally from Saint leonard-de-Noblat). The design, furniture and paintings all came from Italy which had greatly influenced Mr Beaure, and where he had accumulated his wealth. By a strange turn of fate, Mr Beaure never lived in his lovely Chateau; his wife ran off with a stable-boy, so on completion of his project in 1880, he sold les Villettes, the Moulin and the Chateau to a Mr Martial (Marcellin) Barny, an entrepreneur who lived in Limoges and made a fortune from the railways. The price was 380,000 francs. |
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Mr Barny (1880) |
Mr Barny dedicated the purchase to his beloved wife, Madame Leonarde Noemie Barny (ne Pornin), and signed the contract on her 30th birthday.
Madame Barny died in 1939, and the whole estate passed to Mme Jacques Faure on 17th October 1940.
The Faure family enjoyed many wonderful years at Chateau Les Villettes, until, in 2004, Pierre Faure, the son of Mme Jacques Faure, sold the Chateau and 135 acres of beautiful woods, lake and river to Nicholas and Pamela Moore |
Mme Barny |
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Le General et Mme Jacques Faure (1990) |
The bulk of this history was passed on by Mr Jean-Rene Faure (who also provided the historical photographs) and Mr Pierre Faure, to whom Chateau les Villettes is indebted. Jean-Rene in turn refers to: "les informations sur la famille DESMAISONS de BONNEFONT du tome 1, d'une collection de livres que je possede sur les "Genealogies Limousines et Marchoises" edites par Jean-Louis RUCHAUD, Louis de VASSON, et Jean BONHOMME de MONTAIGUT". To all these fine researchers we are grateful. They have helped to keep alive part of the grand history of the Limousin region and it"s principal families |
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