Rochemenier a Fascinating History of French Cave Dwellings

Read my story in French »
Rochemenier Troglodyte type dwellings, houses carved in rock, are not rare in France. In fact, our first encounter with them was in the Vouvray when we took a tour through one of the wineries. Situated in natural cliffs, this network of caves served as the perfect place to store wine. It was not until I visited the Rochemenier troglodyte farms that I learned what created these caves.

Entering the Rochemenier village

The mining of sedimentary lime stone used in the building houses and chateaux created these caves. This type of mining usually was done in cliffs. What makes the Rochemenier troglodyte dwellings different is that they have been carved out of a plain instead of a cliff. This type of dwelling is less common and you find it in the Anjou (Maine et Loire) , Touraine and Poitou regions. In the area of Saumur and Doué-la-Fontaine there are great numbers of these caves.

Troglodyte houses

At Rochemenier the farm dwellings date back to the 17th or beginning of the 18th century. There are about 250 underground rooms which means about 40 underground farms. At Rochemenier we explored the rooms of two of these farms. The most ancient settlement dates back to the 13th century.

Walking down into the farm was a step back in time.

The guide was extremely knowledgeable and very willing to answer questions. The guide conducted our tour in French but English tours are also available. When I asked a question I had to ask him to repeat the answer because I did not catch everything he had said.

Later  he caught up with me as I wandered through the dwellings and had written down the response to my question so that I could read it in French. The guides effort to be sure I understood the French response really impressed me.

Rochemenier Troglodytes represent only two of the farms. With numbered rooms, we followed the multi- lingual guide book and learned a bit of French history. Many of the rooms contained displays of period tools or furnishings.

Wine press- pressoir

Grinder for grinding walnuts for their oil

Bed chamber

Entering the 17th century chapel below ground

Chapel Entrance

Above you see the entrance to the ancient underground chapel. I took the photo below inside the chapel.  Above this ancient chapel lies the modern-day chapel. Men extracted stone through this ceiling hole from the original quarry with a windlass .

During the religious wars of the 16th century the original church above ground burned down. They transformed the quarry to a troglodyte chapel. This chapel is in the shape of a cross. Parishioners abandoned the 17th century chapel when they rebuilt the church above ground.

Underground chapel which is directly below the modern chapel

Modern-day Chapel

Within a few kilometers of Rochemenier are mushroom caves which I plan to tour next summer on our return. However, we sampled an amazing variety of the mushrooms when we dined at La Cave aux Moines restaurant, a troglodyte restaurant.

Troglodyte Restaurant

La Cave aux Moines

Oven-fired bread

The food was amazing – unlike anything I have ever had before. It was very much what I would describe as “comfort food” as it was typical to the time period of the troglodytes. My favorite part of the meal was the oven fired bread.

Fouées rising and ready for firing

These little breads, called fouées,  are indigenous to the region around Saumur. The waitress frequently brought a basket filled with this lovely hot bread. For most of the courses, we stuffed various dishes in the bread as you would a pita.  Such an amiable baker! He allowed us to take lots of pictures.

Fouées

Turquant, close to Montsoreau, also has troglodyte dwellings, gîtes, boutiques and restaurants  as does Doué la Fontaine.

Mon histoire des habitations troglodytiques de Rochemenier (en bref) en français…

Les habitations troglodytiques de Rochemenier ne sont pas rares en France. Nous les avons rencontrées pour la première fois à Vouvray où ces grottes servent au stockage du vin. Mais, comment ont été créé ces grottes ?

Ces grottes sont formées quand la pierre tuffeau a été extraite pour construire les grandes cathédrales et les maisons de cette région. Mais, il y a une différence importante entre les grottes de Vouvray et les habitations de Rochemenier. Autour de Vouvray le tuffeau a été extrait des falaises, mais ici, en l’Anjou, le tuffeau a été extrait de la plaine, non d’une falaise.

Les habitations ici datent du XVIIe siècle, avec environ 250 salles sous la terre.

Cela impliquerait qu’environ 40 fermes étaient associées à ces 250 salles. Nous pouvions explorer deux fermes ici à Rochemenier qui est un type de musée en plein air. La visite guidée a été très intéressante, avec chaque pièce ayant un thème : leurs outils, la cuisine /salle de séjour, la chambre à coucher, l’étable, etc. En particulier, j’ai aimé l’ancien moulin à huile de noix. (Comme une note de côté, j’adore les noix mouillées en automne avant qu’ils soient séchés.)

En plus, la chapelle souterraine : je l’ai trouvée fascinante. Il y a un grand trou dans la pierre qui est positionné, peut-être, à deux ou trois étages de hauteur. D’ici, les ouvriers ont extrait la pierre pour les bâtiments, mais pendant les guerres religieuses du XVIe siècle, la carrière a été devenue une chapelle. Cette chapelle est située au-dessous de la chapelle du XVIIe siècle.

À ne pas manquer dans cette région….

À ne pas manquer dans cette région sont les restaurants troglodytiques et le Musée du Champignons. Les restaurants proposent un grand choix de plats à base de champignons. Le restaurant que j’aime le plus est “La Cave aux moines”. C’était ma première occasion à manger les petits pains appelés fouées. Ils sont cuisinés dans un four de pierre à feu de bois. Comme ils sont merveilleux, natures ou farcis au repas de champignons !

The French section of this article has been reposted at LearnParisianFrench.j-ouellette.com.

<< Back to Maine et Loire