Château de Kerjean

Château de Kerjean is a 16th-century fortified chateau (manor house) located close to the town of Saint-Vougay, in the Finistère department of Brittany, France.^[1]

Château de Kerjean
Aerial view
General information
Type	Fortified château (manor house)
Architectural style	Renaissance style
Location	Saint-Vougay, Brittany, France
Coordinates	48.5805°N 4.1472°W / 48.5805; -4.1472
Construction started	1540s
Completed	1590s
Grounds	19–20 hectares
Designations	Monument historique
Website
Official website

It was originally built for members of the Barbier family (later titled as Marquis de Kerjean) between the 1540s and 1590s.^[2] The chateau was damaged in the 1790s during the French Revolution, and fell into further disrepair during the 19th century.

The building was taken into state care in 1911 and restored in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Standing in a 20-hectare park, the house, park and some out-lying structures (including a large dovecote) are open to the public.^[3]

History

Finistère was a thriving agricultural area in the 16th century,^[4] and the Barbier family built a fortified house on their estate lands close to Saint-Vougay.^[5] The building followed contemporary fashions and included elements of Renaissance architecture of the house itself, with a slightly less common bastioned and casemated external defensive wall.

The manor house was the hub of an active agricultural estate for several centuries, before becoming somewhat neglected during the 17th century.^[6]

Following a marriage between the Barbier and Coatanscour families, the estate and house experienced some growth in the 18th century.^[7] However, during the French Revolution, the Marquise de Coatanscour was arrested, imprisoned and guillotined in Brest, and the estate and chateau forfeited to the republic.

Serving as a military garrison after the Revolution, during which time the building fell into significant disrepair, the house was sold to the Brilhac family in 1802. Several damaged sections of the house were further dismantled in this period – with lead and stone sold as building material – before the Forsanz-Coatgoureden family took control.^[8]

In 1911 the French state bought the chateau,^[2] classified the site as a historic monument, and from the 1980s to the early 2000s restored the house and surrounds.^[8]

Gallery

• 
  Frontage
• 
  Courtyard, entrance and chapel
• 
  Courtyard looking north-east
• 
  North face
• 
  Dovecote
• 
  Ditch and external fortifications
• 
  Corner tower
• 
  External gate

See also

• List of castles in Brittany

References

1. "Château de Kerjean – Official Site – Practical Information". General Council of Finistère (local government). Retrieved 3 September 2014.
2. Base Mérimée: Château de Kerjean and Breton Museum, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
3. "Chemins du patrimoine en Finistère – Kerjean – Park". General Council of Finistère (local government). Retrieved 3 September 2014.
4. "Brittany Tourism – Things to Do – Kerjean Château". Brittany Regional Tourism Committee. Archived from the original on 4 September 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
5. "Château de Kerjean – Official Site – Home". General Council of Finistère (local government). Retrieved 3 September 2014.
6. Arlaux, Claire (2011). Le château de Kerjean : un château Renaissance en Bretagne (in French). Chemins du patrimoine en Finistère (Government publication). ISBN 9782843465406.
7. "Saint-Vougay – Son histoire – Château de Kerjean" (in French). Commune de Saint Vougay. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
8. "Direction régionale des affaires culturelles de Bretagne – Château de Kerjean" (PDF) (in French). Direction régionale des affaires culturelles de Bretagne. Retrieved 4 September 2014.