Harbour

Malicorne

Name: Malicorne
Address: Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, FR

4.6Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, France

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Type: Harbour

River port on the Sarthe at Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, a village known since the seventeenth century for tin-glazed earthenware.

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach by the Sarthe, navigable class F from Le Mans. Lock of Malicorne immediately upstream of the quays. Pass the stone bridge with care, centre arch used for navigation. Speed limit of 6 km/h through the village.

Practical

Pontoons with water and electricity. Pump-out. Sanitary block. Boat hire base operating Pays-de-la-Loire river cruisers from the port. No fuel berth, nearest station at Noyen or Le Mans. Restaurants on the quay.

Ashore

Faiencerie de Malicorne still in production, workshop visits and museum of Malicorne faience at 400 m from the port, on rue Bernard Palissy. Medieval chateau of Malicorne, sixteenth century, visible from the water. Bakery, butcher and small supermarket in the village, all under 500 m. Weekly market on Friday morning on place Du Guesclin.

History

Faience production in Malicorne is documented from 1747 under the workshop of Jean Loyseau, using the white clay of the Sarthe banks and firewood from the forest of Courcelles. At its peak around 1900 the village counted more than twenty kilns.

Story

The chateau of Malicorne belonged in the seventeenth century to Francoise d'Aubigne, who became Madame de Maintenon and secretly married Louis XIV in 1683.