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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Robinais Castle, located on one of the oldest noble lands of Bain-de-Bretagne (Ille-et-Vilaine), is the fruit of at least three major construction campaigns. From the original medieval mansion, only a broken arched door in the cellars could survive. The stairway tower and house pavilions, characteristic of Breton manorial architecture, probably date back to the second half of the 16th century, while the two southern pavilions and the corresponding facade date back to the 1660s. The western half of the castle, more sober, was added at the end of the eighteenth century, reflecting the successive changes of the building.

The seigneurial history of the estate is marked by changes of influential owners. In the 15th century, the seigneury belonged to the La Rivière families, then Cheveigné de Coësmes and Cros. In 1680, after the death of Paul Cros, the castle passed to the Gonidec, sieurs des Aulnays, before being inherited by the Fabroni de La Préjenterie. In 1781 they gave him over to Pelage de Coniac. Among the remains of the 17th and 18th centuries are the partially altered pavilions, as well as the dovecote transformed into a chapel in the 19th century, illustrating the functional and aesthetic changes of the site.

Ranked a Historic Monument since December 23, 1992, the Château de la Robinais is less distinguished by its stylistic unit than by its architectural stratification. The facades and roofs of the house, the pavilions and the dovecote-chapelle, as well as the access rabine, are protected. The building thus embodies the transition between the Breton manors of the Renaissance (such as those of the Fresnais or the Noah) and the aristocratic residences of the Enlightenment, while bearing the traces of subsequent adaptations, especially in the nineteenth century with the reconversion of the dovecote.

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