La Bazouge-de-Chemeré () is a
commune in the
Mayenne department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in northwestern
France.
Geography
The village stands on a promontory above the
Vaige
The Vaige () is a long river in the Mayenne and Sarthe departments in western France.
This list is ordered from source to mouth:
*In Mayenne, the Vaige has its source in Saint-Léger then waters the following villages: Vaiges, Saint-Georges- ...
river. On the opposite side there are
limestone quarries and old
lime kilns.
The village stands at the far east of the
Armorican Massif so the geology presents various facies : limestone, coal,
rhyolite
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral ...
, slate, slate shale. Luckily there were
anthracite
Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...
mines dedicated to the
lime kiln. The lime was used for
liming (soil) until 1896 when chemical fertilizers have been available, so the lime kilns has stopped and also the mining because coal layers are not regular but spraid in distant columns.
History
In 1926 the lightning torched the bell tower then the church. The steeple cover has been built again shorter and the bells were cast again then baptized in 1930. But the fire has brought up covered frescoes of the 16th century showing the dictation of the three dead and the three alive (three skeletons tell three young men the life is short...)
Economy
After being an industrial town in the 19th century with lime kilns, quarries and mining, La Bazouge-de-Chemeré returns mainly to agriculture in 20th century.
Tourism starts 40 years ago with bed and breakfast and rural lodging in cottages.
Nowadays a well-known
Ultralight aviation aerodrome stands at the old mine.
La Bazouge-de-Chemeré through artists
Some painters passed in the village :
* Felix Desille has painted a watercolor of the 'Hôtel du Porche'(Porch hotel) in 1914 and already wished its restoration.
* Giuseppe Tribus an Italian painter who had fled fascism in Italy and had taken refuge in the village has immortalized the roaring flyover of German bombers on 17 June 1940.
*
Édouard Cortès, from a photography and by his invention, has depicted the church street, once 'a snowy evening' and once 'sunshine after rain' (circa 1945) as he used to paint Paris streets.
In 1950 Tribus has painted the porch of the hotel (demolished in 1960) and the church steeple.
Sold painting : Edouard Cortes - La Bazouge-de-Chemere, a snowy evening (circa 1945)
Population
Gallery
File:Vauvéron 20190917 120805.jpg, The village at the top of the promontory above the mere and the river
File:LBDC 2007 0303 11h19.jpg, The village above the mere that the Vaige river has crossed until 2016 and now bypasses it
File:Vauvéron_20131208_102255.jpg, The Vaige river
File:Vauvron2005_0917_145324AA.jpg, The dried Vaige river
File:Vauvéron_20100130_115341_003.jpg, The Chemerette stream pass through an old path then flows in the Vaige river
File:La Bazouge-de-Chemeré (53) Église 01.JPG, The church : known 12th c., frescos 16th c., extension and steeple 19th c., cover 20th c.
File:Dict LBDC.jpg, The dictation of the 3 dead and the 3 alive : the 3 dead (1585 fresco)
File:Dict_LBDC_les3vifs.jpg, The dictation of the 3 dead and the 3 alive : the 3 alive (1585 fresco)
File:Four à chaux La Fortinière.jpg, The Fortinière lime kiln
File:Vauvéron 20190917 123748.jpg, Ultralight aviation aerodrome at the old coal mine
File:LBDC_Cpa_avant_1926.jpg, Old postcard showing the Porche hotel and the high church steeple before the 1926 fire and mostly the Édouard Cortès point of view
See also
*
Communes of Mayenne
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazougedechemere
Communes of Mayenne