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Origin and history

Notre-Dame-de-Beaulieu Abbey, located in Languedias (Côtes-d'Armor), was founded around 1160-1170 by Rolland de Dinan, seigneur of Bécherel, for regular canons of Saint Augustine. Originally named the Pont Pilard, it received donations of land, mills and forest rights from the Dukes of Brittany Conan IV and Geoffroy, as well as from the Duchess Constance. The abbey changed its name to Beaulieu and accumulated property such as churches, fiefs and rights of justice.

During the War of the Succession of Brittany, the abbey was partially destroyed, but the Duke John IV took it under his protection in 1395. In the 16th century, under the abbatiate of Guy Le Lyonnais, it experienced a period of prosperity with the construction of a pond and mills, as well as the acquisition of numerous fiefs and seigneurial rights. The abbey even had a gibet and collected taxes on goods passing through the royal road from Jugon to Dinan.

In the seventeenth century, the abbey was still powerful, sheltering five priests and possessing many priories. Claude Philippe Le Clerc, Abbé Commendataire from 1628 to 1704, introduced the regular canons of Sainte-Geneviève in 1659 to restore discipline. However, the archives were looted by the Huguenots during the League's wars, and the rest burned in 1791 by revolutionaries. The abbey was abolished that same year and sold in 1797.

In the 19th century, the enclave of Mégrit, where the abbey was located, was attached to Languedias. The abbey church was destroyed in 1860, leaving only a 16th century door visible in 1883. In the 20th century, the 17th century mill, adorned with coats of arms, still remained. He wears the supposed coats of arms of Rolland de Dinan (founder) and Guy Le Lyonnais or Claude Philippe Le Clerc, linked to his construction or reform.

Today, the mill, partially classified in the Historical Monuments in 1927 for its armored bas-reliefs, remains the main vestige of this abbey disappeared. The site, including the pond and the well preserved dike, bears witness to the past importance of this monastery in the region.

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