La Bazouge-de-Chemeré


La Bazouge-de-Chemeré is a commune in the Mayenne department in northwestern France.

Geography

The village stands on a promontory above the Vaige river. On the opposite side there are limestone quarries and old lime kilns.
The village stands at the far east of the Armorican Massif so the geology presents various facies : limestone, coal, rhyolite, slate, slate shale. Luckily there were anthracite mines dedicated to the lime kiln. The lime was used for liming until 1896 when chemical fertilizers have been available, so the lime kilns has stopped and also the mining because coal layers are not regular but spraid in distant columns.

History

In 1926 the lightning torched the bell tower then the church. The steeple cover has been built again shorter and the bells were casted again then baptized in 1930. But the fire has brought up covered frescoes of the 16th century showing the dictation of the three dead and the three alive

Economy

After being an industrial town in the 19th century with lime kilns, quarries and mining, La Bazouge-de-Chemeré returns mainly to agriculture in 20th century.
Tourism starts 40 years ago with bed and breakfast and rural lodging in cottages.
Nowadays a well-known Ultralight aviation aerodrome stands at the old mine.

La Bazouge-de-Chemeré through artists

Some painters passed in the village :
In 1950 Tribus has painted the porch of the hotel and the church steeple.