Parc de la Chantrerie

The Chantrerie Park is a large green area located in Nantes, in the Nantes Erdre district.

History

Built on the edges of the Erdre, which covers nearly 900 m, this 17.66-hectare park was once part of an estate owned by the eve of the Revolution, at the chapter of the Cathedral of Nantes. A large farm was there whose revenues, is mainly from the cultivation of the vine (planted at the beginning of the seventeenth century), were used to maintain the Cathedral choir, which explains why the name "Chantrerie" comes from the word Cantor.

In the year 1697, Missire Jean Barrin, "Cantor in dignity of the Cathedral Church of Nantes", rents for 400 pounds tournois a year "the House, lands and dependencies" of the Chantrerie for a period of 9 years to Marie Bernardeau, widow of Pierre Niel, a native of Carquefou. Then, the farm building includes the main house, the press, stable, Garden, meadows, arable lands, Woods, a coppice, vines, and a right to fish on the Erdre.

Before the Revolution, the family of farmers who occupied the area, the Launay, paid a rent of 900 a year. Became a national property, the Launay bought it in the year 1791 for the sum of 60,200 pounds. Forty years later, the area was owned by the Nantes architect Étienne Blon, who built the current villa in the year 1825. In the year 1831, his daughter Anne-Clemence married Louis Lévesque, son of the Mayor of Nantes Hyacinthe-Louis Lévesque. he built the chapel in the year 1836, and in the year 1860, decided to enlarge the house of his father-in-law with a floor. In the year 1872, the Nantes landscaper Dominique Noisette, who owes the development Park of proce, is responsible to redesign the Park.

The Chantrerie remains in the hands of the Levesque family until the year 1922. In the year 1938, the owner Similien Normand sold it to the Drouin, an old family of ship owners was converted into road transport. The latter sold it to the city of Nantes in the year 1972. At the time of the acquisition, the latter had an area of 37 hectares, half was converted into a public park ("Chantrerie Park " itself) opened to the public in the year 1979, the other hosting the same year the buildings of the national veterinary school of Nantes.

The villa, the pavilions that surround it, the Orangery, a part of the Park and the chapel are listed in the supplementary inventory of historical monuments by order of the 20^th of May 1997.

The Chantrerie Park gave its name to the Campus of the nearby Chantrerie.

Description

While the horticultural collections are less diversified than in other Nantes parks, one of the Chantrerie offers a variety of beautiful trees such as purple beeches, plane trees, Cedars, spruce, Oaks and of a multi hundred chestnut.

The neighborhood is still generally rural, the Park still contains a fairly diverse wildlife since there were a total of 20 species of mammals (squirrels, rabbits, foxes, wild boars) and 70 species of birds, many insects, reptiles and amphibians.

Collections and landscapes

The Original Landscape design and remarkable trees, the Chantrerie Park is a park of the 19th remained in its juice. Go to the discovery of its treasures.

The landscape design of hazelnut, the Nantes landscaper Dominique hazelnut designed the Park of the Chantrerie in the year 1872 at the request of its owner Louis Auguste Levesque, son of Louis-Hyacinthe Lévesque, Mayor of Nantes until the year 1830. The property has 37 hectares. A part now hosts the veterinary school. In compliance with the treaties of the art gardens in the 19th-century, hazelnut puts in scene a landscape: it works the plant masses in the form of thickets, alternates wooded parts and meadow and introduced exotic plants. The goal is to highlight the points of view on the Erdre and visually isolate the castle of the surrounding countryside. This design still remains today the structure of the Park.

Toward the children forest (C) in the 1990s, the park expanded to the South side of a dozen hectares, linked with the Erdre walk. In order to isolate the building of the new school of mines considered unsightly for the future great national site of Erdre (the ranking was obtained in the year 1998 from the Ministry of the environment), the SEVE (SAP) was involved in the project of the "forest of children." In the year 1996, 1,000 trees are planted to enhance the landscape of the Erdre. A kind of extension of the park thanks to the respect of the principles of hazelnut composition.

An eco-garden park of the Chantrerie benefits from the eco-garden label since 2012 rewarding its ecological management. Here, we recycle the leaves at the foot of trees, the meadows are mowed belatedly and the hay feeding awakening farm. The trees are pruned only for safety and dead trees left behind for insects. This mosaic of habitats allows the presence of a wide variety of birds and the guinea fowl fritillary, a threatened species flower, reappeared in the Chantrerie.

The Chantrerie Park: peacefully at the edge of Erdre

The Agricultural field of cantor (choir of the Cathedral of Nantes) before the Revolution, the Park became a national property in the year 1792 and is transferred to individuals. Today, it retains his 19^th century landscaped design directed by Dominique Noisette, at the request of Louis Auguste Levesque, owner at that time. Groves of trees, great prospects and curves paths highlight the majestic landscape of the Erdre. We discover many remarkable trees: chestnut, giant sequoia or purple beech. The Castle, built in the year 1825 and then expanded in the 1860s, now houses the headquarters of Atlanpole, Nantes technopole. Throughout the year, the Park hosts the school children who came to discover the animals, the garden or the bees in the Apiary. A farm is also open to the general public on certain Sundays throughout the year on sunny days. 18 hectares, unique views on the Erdre and the castle of the Gascherie, the famous Erdre castles. The chantrerie is  privilege to a large spaces close to the city!

Source : https://jardins.nantes.fr/ / https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_de_la_Chantrerie