Colombier de Rouessé-Vassé

A symbol of the lords' power and designed to raise pigeons for their meat and droppings, dovecotes are typical of seigneurial estates that are large enough to avoid disturbing neighbouring crops.

This dovecote, one of the largest in the region in the 16th century, was one of many buildings that formed the hamlet of Vassé in the 16th century.

It belonged to the owner of Château de Vassé, built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a building around which village life was organised. Several farming families worked the surrounding land. The wheel mill, powered by the current of the Vègre, was used to grind wheat for bread, which was baked in the ovens found in most of the farms.

The boundaries of the property of the lords of Vassé are still marked across the fields and along the paths by low stone and slate walls.
Now owned by the commune of Rouessé-Vassé, the dovecote was renovated in 2000.