HISTORY OF

Château Les Bouysses

Château ‘Les Bouysses’ is rich with eight hundred years of history!

A thirteenth century royal decree requesting lords to donate some land to allow the establishment of religious communities and monasteries was at the origin of ‘Les Bouysses’, in year 1230. The lord of Rassiels (a place situated above Douelle), Raymond de Lard, therefore ceded land called “Les Bouysses” to Dame Guillemette, the second abbess of Leyme, for the establishment of a cistercian priory. A small number of nuns lived there, perhaps a dozen or thereabouts.

During the Hundred Years War the nuns were forced to leave by the English. Subsequently the nuns returned until year 1600, from which date they remained at Leyme but kept their eyes on events at the Bouysses priory. In 1745 they authorized the demolition of their chapel which was remplaced by a winery on the same site. Henceforth the wine was located at ‘Les Bouysses’ and the prayers at Leyme.

 

In 1789 property belonging to the Church became property of the French state and in 1791 the estate was sold to François Agar, who was mayor of Mercuès and wine merchant in Mercuès and Paris-Bercy. A fire at the Bercy warehouse caused his bankruptcy and he was obliged to sell the estate to one of his cousins Count Michel Agar de Mosbourg. The latter was Joachim Murat’s Minister of Finance in Naples from 1808 to 1815, Member of Parliament for the Lot from 1830 to 1837 and President of the Lot departmental assembly for 14 years.

It was Michel Agar de Mosburg who built most of the existing buildings with the exception of the winery and one of the cellars. The elegant perron with double flight of stairs outside copy italian designs that he had loved during his trips to Italy. The Orangery was built in 1820. The stables were built nearby following a request by Napoleon Bonaparte who was to have visited with is guard and horses. He never made the journey.

According to the 1812 entry in the land registry, the dovecote together with its group of houses, and the farmhouse were already present, but not the barns.

Count Michel Agar de Mosbourg did have one son who had no sons or daughters. It was therefore the nephews of the latter, the Vicomtes de Rougé, who became owners at the end of the nineteenth century. The last viscount, inventor of aircraft tailplanes, sold some land to finance his research. As his invention was stolen before he was able to patent it, and consequently lost the fees he should have received, he was obliged to sell off the rest of the estate.

The Marre family became owners in 1933. Until relatively recently it was a purely agricultural enterprise but it was decided to rehabilitate the main building called the ‘Château’.

1996 to 1998
Main structural work,
masonery and roof

1998 to 1999
Creation of reception rooms
and lounges on the first floor

2002
Opening of the Tanat
reception room

2003
Opening of the
Count’s bedroom

2004
Opening of
the La Treille house

2008
Opening
of Jean’s house

2010
Opening and renovation
of the Orangery to the stables

2011
Opening of the shop
and antique showroom

2012
Opening of the
Chateau appartment

1149 rue du lac de Courtil
46090 Mercuès