This is Fontenay-Mauvoisin !!!

Posted in France, Versailles

And coming back to my old stumping road warrior area ,and catching up on my many photos ,most in my cd rom vault to bring you new areas and ideas to visit my belle France, here is a new one. Therefore, let me tell you a bit about this is Fontenay-Mauvoisin !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

The village of Fontenay-Mauvoisin is located in the Yvelines department no, 78 in the Île-de-France region of my belle France. It is 8 km south of Mantes-la-Jolie, 26 km from Houdan, 50 km from Versailles, and 473 km from my current home, I used to come here taking Bd de la Reine right into BD du Roi or D186 road to connect with the A13 autoroute de Normandie dir Rouen ,to exit/sortie 13 dir Buchelay and continue on the D110 route de Mantes and later left on rue de Fontenay to Fontenay-Mauvoisin, This is deep country Yvelines, off the beaten path and beautiful scenery,

The Church Saint-Nicolas is a 12C church rebuilt in 1545 by François de Venoys, Lord of Arches and Fontenays with a square bell tower covered in slate with exceptional acoustics. The church was restored in 1630, in 1894, and again in 1980 with stained-glass windows, It has a quadrangular bell tower, containing two bells dating from 1727, located in the western part of the church. It has been extensively modified both in terms of the shape of the roof and its elevation, as shown by a series of architectural drawings dating from the last quarter of the 19C, preserved by the Fontenay-Mauvoisin City/Town Hall. It has since had a pyramid-shaped spire.

The Church Saint-Nicolas , inside, has a polychrome stone statue of the Virgin and Child dating from the 17C, as well as a statue of a knight, which could be Saint Michael, and 16C timber framing elements which have the particularity of presenting engulfed beams in the form of grimacing mouths, dragons’ heads or crocodiles. There are also several statues such as Virgin and Child, Christ the Savior, Holy Virgin, Saint Michael, Saint Nicholas, Saint Eulalia, etc., This church houses the tombstone of François de Venoys, whose fine white wine vineyard was renowned before being unfortunately destroyed by phylloxera in 1900, and the remains of François de Villiers. In 2015, a kit organ was installed there.

Other insteresting things to see are the lavoir or wash house 18C with three galleries arranged in a U-shape around a basin. To the west of the village stood until around the 12C a castle, now nicknamed the château fondu or molten castle because only a few stones remain of the ruins; but the moats, still clearly visible, outline this famous castle.

A bit of history I like tell us that in the 12C there was a fortified castle in Fontenay, the “Château Fondu” which was later destroyed when the village was burned down by the Anglo-Normans during the march of Henry II of England on Mantes in 1188. In the 14C-15C, after the death of Jean de Mauvoisin, the territory was divided into Haut-Fontenay and Bas-Fontenay, then divided and passed on between his various descendants from the marriages of his three daughters. Several more until the French revolution.

The village of Fontenay-Mauvoisin on its heritage : https://www.fontenay-mauvoisin.fr/commune/patrimoine/

The Grand Paris Seine Oise agglo community of towns on Fontenay-Mauvoisin : https://gpseo.fr/commune/fontenay-mauvoisin

There you go folks, the area of my first official home in France and always remember fondly, my nostalgic Yvelines the cradle of the kingdom of France and lovely towns all over with great architecture and history,  Again, hope you enjoy this post on this is Fontenay-Mauvoisin as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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