This commune combines two settlements: Cheillé, halfway up the hillside and the town of La Chapelle St Blaise, where the town hall is located.
The countryside:
An area of largely open countryside towards the valley, stretching deep into the Forest of Chinon. Poplar plantations extend over alluvial soils and numerous small streams occupy narrow valleys, revealing the yellow tufa rock within the plateau.
In 1241, Louis XI allowed the Canons to use stone from the quarries at Cheillé for the building of Tours cathedral.
The forest:
The most beautiful part of the forest lies within the boundaries of the commune, where high stands of oaks and beech trees lie alongside small valleys and streams. This is an ecosystem worthy of preservation. There is little in the way of flat land suitable for arable farming, but espaliered orchards are cultivated instead.
The settlement lies halfway up the hillside. The vineyard, situated on a steep slope, accounts for two-thirds of "Touraine Azay-le-Rideau" wines.
The church:
Dating from the 13th century, it has been altered on several occasions. The 15th century choir ends in a flat chevet, while the church tower has lost its spire and rests on four huge square supports. Outside, an oak tree is growing out of the wall between two of these masonry pillars, with its roots buried deep inside the church. Inside, there is a 16th century woodcarving of Christ, which is moving in its serenity.
One of the gravestones belongs to an exiled Swedish Marshal, who was a prisoner at the Château de La Cour
aux Berruyer (then property of the French Consul in Copenhagen) and a convert to Catholicism. The lord of this château was one of the four landed guardians of the Forest of Chinon (private property
overlooking the village, visible from the road).
Archaeology:
In the forest there are two ancient defensive structures (Gallic enclosures): "Le
Fort des Anglais" and "Le Fort de Maupas", accessible by the D757 and D751 roads respectively. Finds that have been discovered near the hamlet of Baigneux
include four blocks of stone pierced with holes, the base of a Gallo-Roman wine press (recreated at the Museum of wine in Tours), roof tiles, 2nd century ceramics and two coins (Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius),
Gallo-Roman column shafts, furniture and small bronze artefacts. In addition, a Merovingian sarcophagus was discovered in 1947. A funeral vault containing a child's grave and objects in gold, silver, ivory, glass, amber and rock crystal were also discovered at La Rémonière:
a large Gallo-Roman villa, along with the substructure of a building measuring 38m x 8m and a complex stretching 97m x 20m with stone tables and funerary urns.
The current building is partly constructed on top of Gallo-Roman walls. The commune also contains underground sanctuaries from mediaeval times.
In the surrounding area:
Beautiful private properties can be seen from the road: the Château de la Roche, a 15th century dwelling in the middle of the orchards, the Manoir de la Touche, a 16th century manor house at the intersection of the D751 and D17 and the Château de Chesniers, a 16th and 17th century dwelling and hunting lodge on the D757.
Crafts and traditions:
Today, Cheillé works hard to preserve its traditional crafts and techniques. The "Association de la Poule Couasse" is active in this area.
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