VENDÉE U
One of the best known sites in Les Essarts is undoubtedly the 19th century St Michel manor-house, located in a central park owned buy the Vendee local council, which is host to both the Vendee U amateur cycling squad and its professional branch, the Europcar team led by Jean-Rene Bernaudeau.
The structure was launched by the former yellow jersey holder in 1991, with the help of the municipality, the department, the region and the Systeme U stores. In 2000, in order to help his riders become professionals, Bernaudeau created his own pro team first sponsored by Bonjour. Successive partners were Brioches La Boulangere in 2003, Bouygues Telecom in 2005 and Europcar this season. In the same time, Vendee U became the pro team reserve.
Through the years, the squad was home to some of France’s greatest riders while remaining faithful to its values: Sylvain Chavanel, Sebastien Joly, Franck Bouyer, Damien Nazon, François Simon, Jean-Cyril Robin, Didier Rous, Nicolas Jalabert, Roger Hammond, Charles Wegelius, Thomas Voeckler, Jerome Pineau or Pierrick Fedrigo are among the riders of note. World and Olympic champion Felicia Ballanger brought a touch of feminine prestige to the whole team.
The stage victories won last year on the Tour by Pierrick Fedrigo and Thomas Voeckler helped Bernaudeau find a new sponsor with the hope of more success, especially this year on home soil.
GASTON CHAISSAC
A self-taught artist born in Burgundy in 1910, Gaston Chaissac settled in Vendee at the end of WW2, when his wife was appointed as a teacher in Boulogne. During the time trial, the teams will ride past the Palimpeste, the cosy house just outside of Boulogne in which the painter lived with his family. Illustrator and chronicler, he spent most of the last years of his life in the department and notably in Ste Florence, near Les Essarts, developing his work behind closed doors to the indifference and often puzzlement of the locals. A pioneer in naive paintings and collages, he was finally acclaimed posthumously. Ste Florence, inspired by Chaissac’s daugther and grand-daughter, paid him a beautiful homage in the shape of the Blue Sugar Box, a museum installed in the school in which his wife taught and where he lived for 13 years. Revered by writers Andre Lhote and Benjamin Perret, Chaissac died of a lung disease in 1964 just as the world was discovering his paintings. In the yard of the museum can be seen the loo which has become a registered monument.
The Tour de France only stopped in Les Essarts once in the past but the winner that year 2005 was not a second fiddle. Tom Boonen had indeed beaten Thor Hushovd in a mass-sprint before repeating the feat the next day in Tours. Already winner of two stages in the previous edition of the Tour, the Belgian was the best rider in the world at the time. A few months later he became world champion in Madrid. The gifted rider from Mol had started the year in style by winning two Paris-Nice stages in March. His month of April was even stronger with a brilliant Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders double. Boonen had fond memories of Les Essarts when he negotiated in 2008 a possible move from Quick Sep to Jean-Rene Bernaudeau’s team Bouygues Telecom, based in town. Unfortunately, the deal fell through when Boonen failed a dope test for cocaine.
Le château des Essarts
Il a traversé plus de plus de mille ans d'histoire. Sur l’emplacement d’un ancien temple romain au dieu Mars fut érigée une motte castrale puis un donjon dès le XIIe siècle. Baronnie sous vassalité de la Vicomté de Thouars, le domaine des Essarts voit alors s'élever d'imposantes constructions de pierre : des remparts et quatre tours, dont la haute Tour Sarrasine, des châtelets d'entrée à pont-levis témoigneront encore longtemps de cette belle époque des chevaliers.
Aujourd’hui, le château fait encore admirer sa Tour Sarrasine, ses belles tours de garde ou encore le logis Renaissance, que fit construire Jean IV de Brosse, et qui n'a pas échappé aux feux révolutionnaires des colonnes infernales pendant les guerres de Vendée en 1794. Charette y emprisonna les 300 républicains du camp des Essarts en juin 1795. En subsistent les ouvertures, la fenêtre à Meneau, la cheminée, la colonne d'escalier évoquant toute la richesse architecturale qui l'orna deux siècles durant.
Crypte romane des Essarts
Édifiée en 1182 en même temps que l'église romane du prieuré Saint Pierre, la crypte conserve de magnifiques voûtes et colonnes du XIIe siècle. On y aperçoit encore des traces de peinture sur les murs, notamment un ange balançant un encensoir.<
Le château de la Grève, à Saint Martin des Noyers
La Grève est l’une des vingt baronnies qui relèvent du Duché de Thouars où elle a droit de haute justice. Elle est mentionnée dès le XIIe siècle, où Agnès, Dame de la Rocheservière et de la Grève, épouse Sébrand Ier Chabot. La Grève passe ainsi, et pour plus de trois siècles, dans les mains de cette famille. Pendant les guerres de religion, il passe sans cesse des mains des catholiques à celles des protestants. En 1599, il est vendu à Pierre Durcot, seigneur protestant proche d’Henri IV, qui le réaménage : c’est alors l’apogée de son histoire. Menaçant ruine, le château est restauré à la fin des années 1970 et en 1984, il est inscrit à l’inventaire supplémentaire des Monuments Historiques. En 1997, il est ouvert aux premières visites grâce à la création de l’Association des Amis du Château de la Grève. En 2000, le château reçoit le Prix des Vieilles Maisons Françaises, en récompense des efforts de sauvegarde entrepris.
