Manoir d'Ango at Varengeville-sur-Mer

[breeze]

Jehan Ango (1480-1551) was a wealthy ship owner. His father sent one of the first French fishing fleets to the new world. The son sailed on several of his father’s expeditions, but when his father died he took over the business and stayed on land. Jehan built a grandiose house in Dieppe and later built this stone manor house out in the country. He was associated with Verrazano’s voyages, which included the discovery of New York, and he was a bit of a pirate with the approval of his good friend King Francois I.

At the end, Ango died bankrupt, I believe due to fronting the money to build ships for the French fleet and not being reimbursed. Elsewhere I read that he hadn’t paid taxes on his vast wealth. I guess that’s okay as long as the king is your friend, but kings don’t last forever.

I could tell you more about Jehan Ango, but I’m not sure which website to believe, so I’ll stop here.

The house and gardens of Le Bois des Moutiers are also in Varengeville-sur-Mer. We had seen these gardens in springtime and went back this September to see how they look in the fall. This time we had an opportunity to visit the manoir, which had been under renovation last time we were there.

The manor house was built between 1530-1544. The main building is the work of Italian architects and artists. It’s the only place in Normandy with an Italianate loggia. Its pigeonnier (dovecote, colombier) was the largest in Normandy.

View of the east facade, which is actually three buildings plus the entrance gate with its flanking towers.

[breeze]

I’ve read that the ensemble was in the form of a U, but today it has four sides. It isn’t a rectangle because looking through the gate you can see that the south building is set at an angle. That’s supposedly so you could see the loggia as you approach, but that probably wasn’t a factor since usually the huge doors of the gate would have been kept closed.



Now we’re in the courtyard. Here’s the south side with the tower, loggia, reception hall upstairs, and steam room downstairs at the right end. Originally there was a stone double staircase leading to the loggia. There are three small doors made in Tuscany of Tuscan stone and assembled here on arrival.

[breeze]

Potholes for the steam room.







From the end you can see how narrow this building actually is.

[breeze]

The west side doesn't look grand, just solid and workmanlike. Their website says there's a vacation rental unit for 10 people and I wonder if it's in this part of the complex.

[breeze]

North side of the courtyard, with the impressive pigeonnier. It is 22 metres in circumference and originally had 1600 holes, to accommodate 3200 pigeons. Pigeon droppings were a valuable fertilizer and of course the pigeons themselves made their final appearance at the dinner table. The number of pigeons permitted was based on the owner’s acreage-–the more land, the more pigeons. The idea was that the owner’s land was enough to support all these pigeons, but in fact the flocks were destructive to all the surrounding crops and the peasants suffered most from them. The right to keep pigeons was the first feudal right to be abolished by the Revolution.

The bulb-shaped roof supposedly is evidence of the trade between France and Turkey at the time. The roof burned in 1961 and was rebuilt.

[breeze]

Here's the east side.







Here's the gate we entered by.

[mossie]

An unusual medieval set of buildings. I really like the pigeon loft. I have some pigeons visiting my garden who I would gladly donate.

[breeze]

Looking back at the entrance gate, the corner tower, and the loggia.



Three rooms were open, one a large sitting room and another one the old kitchen. I have just one decent photo from this part of the house.

[breeze]

Window frames are from Seine river stone. The walls are a mix of brick, flint, and sandstone.

[breeze]

No manor is complete without its pack of hounds.

[bixaorellana]

Fascinating, Breeze! It's interesting how the manoir is essentially a large farmhouse with an overlay of elegance. Still, that first picture showing the view from the gate is fairytale lovely. You can definitely see why the peasants would have their noses out of joint, pigeons or no. Some bricklayers must have had a real field day with the pigeonnier. Would you be tempted to stay at the manoir?

[bjd]

It's strange how the house looks lovely from a distance and then the close-ups show that it was built/repaired/replaced with odd bits of brick and stone in different shapes and patterns over the years.

I do imagine that the gardens would be nicest in early summer when the roses are in bloom.

[Deleted]

I think just like everybody else, the brick pigeon house is my favourite. It adds a unique character to the ensemble. The whole compound seems quite vast and also somewhat difficult to capture by camera with all sorts of parts going in different directions.

[breeze]

mossie, your pigeons may be needed, since the pigeon house was underpopulated when we were there. Of course it's not set up to accommodate many birds at this point. I'll post photos of 3 different pigeon house interiors.

bixa, the inside would have to be spectacular to tempt me (crowds during the day would be a drawback), but if I'd known at the time of our visit that there's a rental space, I'd have asked to look at it.

My guess is that the original U shape included just the three flint and sandstone buildings, and that the north side (behind the pigeonnier) was built when it became a working farm.

Here are three examples of pigeon house interiors. Little did I think when I took these photos that they'd come in handy some day.

This one is from the Manoir de Tessy, a B&B near Varengeville. It looks authentic to me.



From the Commanderie d'Arville, a Knights Templars complex. Looks authentic to me, though cleaned up.



This is from the Manoir d'Ango. To me, admittedly not a pigeon house expert even though I may have more interior photos than anyone else here, this wooden construction looks recent.

[bixaorellana]

Oh thank goodness! Now, if anything happens to you, we at least have an anyport-appropriate epitaph for you:
[I am] admittedly not a pigeon house expert even though I may have more interior photos than anyone else here
          

Kidding aside, the pigeon house interiors are most interesting, especially since I always wondered how they were arranged. Were they actually tended by a pigeon keeper, or were the pigeons left to do their own thing. For that matter, are pigeons kept like that fed, or just let loose to scavenge and ravage peasants' fields?

[breeze]

bixa, that would require a tiny font to fit it all in. I might prefer "Modest About Pigeons" in larger type.

I'm not sure "tended" is the word so much as "culled for the table."

Pigeon keeper? At this point I don't dare look up how pigeons were managed for fear I'd lose my Modest About Pigeons status.

[fumobici]

Love this, thanks. I can see some Italianate influence in the architecture, but the big, mansardish slate roofs, the stonework, and the general aspect look more French to me than Italian. Perhaps such things are dictated by the materials and particular skills of the workmen local to a big project like this. It is, still, lovely.

[tod2]

Just wonderful photos Breeze! The brickwork designs are superb even though I spotted two small faults on the wall of the pigeon house...which prooves they did things without a computer generated design!   
The buildings, especially the Pigeon House, are marvellous - the stonework around the windows and other features like the dog kennels - something I have never seen or even heard of before.

Thank you so much for introducing us to the house and gardens of Le Bois des Moutiers in Varengeville-sur-Mer.

[mickthecactus]

Lovely building Breeze - thanks.

[htmb]

I'm just now catching up on this lovely thread, Breeze. I really like seeing your reports of all the different "hidden gems" you bring to us.

Both your illuminating commentary and your photos are very interesting.

It's funny, I just realized I've always thought of keeping pigeons in the past as a "noble" occupation, never equating them with the nasty, annoying things we see flocked together in cities today. The fact that large number of pigeons could be destructive to farmland was also something I'd never considered until now. I do, however, like the design of the pigeon house. Especially without the pigeons.  

[breeze]

Just noticed I used "potholes" when I meant "portholes" above.