Colline et chapelle Saint-Michel du Montaigu

Hambers

At 291 metres, the Montaigu — the "sharp mount" — is one of the highest summits of the Coëvrons, a cone of moorland and heather that dominates the whole of eastern Mayenne. At its tip keeps watch a small granite chapel dedicated to Saint Michael, the archangel of high places: as at Mont Gargan or Mont-Saint-Michel, it is to the leader of the heavenly hosts that this wind-battered summit was entrusted. It was built in 1402 by the lords of Le Rocher, at Mézangers, together with a hermitage whose ruins still show at the foot of the building: a bread oven, a cellar and a long narrow building that served as a shelter for pilgrims. For the hill was, for centuries, a halt on the roads to the Mount: walkers bound for Mont-Saint-Michel stopped here, prayed to the archangel on the summit, then went on down towards the north. Hermits succeeded one another on the height until 1840, guardians of the sanctuary and hosts to passers-by. The chapel, which keeps its original granite altar, was listed as a monument historique in 1985, and the tradition of pilgrimage is not extinct: the site still regularly welcomes pilgrims. Now a sensitive natural area, the hill is maintained by chèvres des fossés goats and Ouessant sheep that are restoring the moorland; from the summit the panorama takes in the whole Coëvrons country — one of the finest views in Mayenne, at an archangel's height.

Getting there : Butte du Montaigu, between Hambers and Mézangers, in the Coëvrons. Car park halfway up, then a 5- to 10-minute walk to the summit; free access all year round (sensitive natural area, conservation grazing). Chapel visible from the outside only; picnic area.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound