Manors and castles

Kerleguen Manor House (15th – 16th – 18th century)

Private property.

It’s a square construction with a corner tower. The manor house is extended eastwards at the beginning of the 17th century with a service building. Towards the south, in the 18th century, with another building used as a shed and a woodshed. Until the Revolution, it was the seat of a parish priest whose holders were rectors of Grand-Champ, such as Cillard de Kerampoul, author of a Breton dictionary.

From the medieval period onwards the manor has retained its austere appearance and its main original features. In particular, an entrance door topped by a brace, one branch of which rests on an armorial console, two strong gargoyles and two very austere mullioned dormers. The manor can be visited during the summer period and during the Heritage Days in September. The monument is listed I.S.M.H.

There are still the ruins of a domestic chapel on the domain. It is older than the manor and was dedicated to Saint Gobrien, bishop of Vannes. Adjacent to the southern wall of the enclosure, it was accessed from the courtyard and from the outside, allowing it to be opened to the public. According to Abbé Cillard, it was visited in procession on the day of the Rogations and Pardon was celebrated on the Sunday after the Rosary. In 1771, it received a 71-pound bell called “Marie de Saint Gobrien”.

The manor house was sold in 1861 by the factory, but the chapel remained parochial. In 1899, it was glazed by Laumonnier de Vannes. It then housed the wooden statue of Saint Gobrien and a plaster statue of Saint Marc.

The manor of Kermainguy (15th century)

Private property.

The manor house retains all the features of the seigneurial house of the first half of the 15th century. The parish then has a dozen seigneuries like this one. They are part of the powerful seigneury of Largoët which goes from the banks of the Vilaine to the river of Auray (Le Loc’h). 

The main facade of the building is exposed to the east, opening onto a courtyard once closed by an armoured gate. The building consists of three levels topped by an attic with a spiral staircase contained in the polygonal tower ouside the building, the upper level is occupied by a lookout room.

In the 19th century, a door was opened in the kitchen, the window of which was enlarged. But the facade has kept all its other old openings. This Gothic manor house is undoubtedly the one in the Valencian region that has undergone the least transformation since its origins.

According to a document of 8 September 1464, the manor belonged to lord Jehan de Muzillac, sire of Kermainguy. Around 1520, it became the property of Cyprienne de Rohan, daughter of François de la Feuillée. When François de la Feuillée died in 1538, the manor became the property of Jacques de Sesmaisons and in the next century, to the de Bréafort family (17th century).

In 1705, after the death of the heirs of the latter family, the property passed to the de Monty family who kept the manor until the Revolution. The manor can be seen from the heights of the Botsegalo hiking trail, for example.

Penhouët Castle (18th century)

Private property.

Located on the edge of the wood, as its Breton name indicates (Pen: head; hoët: wood) the castle was a fortified passage on the Loc’h. A manor house was already mentioned there in the 15th century. The present building was built in the middle of the 18th century by Blévin, sieur de Penhoët.

The date of 1756 engraved on the base corresponds to the date of completion of the construction site. It will be the successive property of the families of Arradon (16th century), Drouet and Blévin. The seigneurie is erected as a marquisate in 1620. In front of the courtyard, two pavilions contain, one of them a chapel and the other an conservatory. According to tradition, the gardens were attributed to the famous gardener Le Nôtre.

Under the Chouannerie, Penhoët was alternately the seat of the royalist and republican staffs. On 21 February 1671, the marriage between Julien Blévin and Nicole de Cosnoal was celebrated in the Penhoët chapel, but the current chapel seems to be of a later date. The castle was also the property, of the famous couturier Karl Lagerfeld for many years.

To the right of the entrance, it has neo-classical ornaments around the western gate: flat pilasters and curved pediment. Inside, they can be found in the alcove of the Virgin Mary above the altar. The side windows splay widely outwards..