History

Eure is one of the five départements which make up Normandy. Its name comes from the Eure River which goes through the département and then rejoins the Seine.

The coat of arms of Eure shows the two leopards from Normandy and the arms of the Evreux county, from which Eure was founded.

:: In 1190 Geoffrey du Mesnil, lord of Mesnil Jourdain built a fortified castle of which only remains a feudal clod surrounded by dried-up moats.

:: In 1331 Jourdain du Mesnil, knight and lord of Mesnil Jourdain, succeeded to him.

:: In 1418 Roger d’Hellenvilliers was the first of a long line of lords, all bearing the same name, who succeeded to each other between 1420 and 1605.

:: The Hellenvilliers family built the present-day church, where the former one used to stand before being destroyed by a fire ; they also built the manor towards the end of the 15th century. They settled there and left the feudal castle. Then, under Italian influence, they built a small but magnificently decorated manor in the 16th century, which they enlarged towards 1580.

:: In 1605, the domain of Mesnil Jourdain is granted to Claude Leroux, Lord of Tilly, adviser to the parliament of Normandy.

:: The construction of the stone building and Louis XIII style rubble stone has no definite origin and is not used anymore today. Its ground floor, which is standing against the feudal clod, could have been built upon the former moats. A testimony dating back to 1668 indicates that the feudal castle still existed at that period: “This fief of hauberk has a clod and a castle, covered with slates, surrounded by ditches, and another castle close to the church.”

:: Since 1789 and the French revolution, several owners succeeded to each other and the manor carried on with its agricultural activities since 1970. Since then, the current owners have been living in and restoring the place.