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Origin and history

The castle of Ereck, also called the castle of Erech or of the Rocks, is established on the commune of Questembert (Morbihan), on a high point to the east of a plateau. Its origin would go back to a first building built at the end of the fifth century by Erech, son of the king of Armorique Audren, or in the sixth century by Guérech, Count of Vannes. The present castle, rectangular with a Mansard roof decorated with Renaissance skylights, dates from the 16th century. It had three remarkable carved chimneys, only one of which was preserved and transferred to Kerjean Castle (Finistery).

Ranked "very delabrated" in 1825, the house body was demolished in the 1960s, its stones reused to build the town hall of Ruffiac. The commons, the court of honor (with its octagonal well of the sixteenth, disassembled in the 1950s), the moats and the gardens were inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1946. The estate covered 62 hectares, including two farmhouses. Excavations revealed traces of a Roman station, attested by coins.

The castle had a 34-metre granite façade, pierced with eight openings on the ground floor and reproduced on the noble floor. The interior housed symmetrically distributed rooms, including a dining room decorated with a manerist fireplace inspired by the Fontainebleau school. A forecourt of moat (yellow in water) preceded the entrance, while a pleasant garden and a private chapel – already in ruins in 1825 – completed the whole. Today, only the commons, exploited for agricultural use, remain.

The property has changed hands throughout the centuries, passing from the families Châteauderec (XVth–XVIth) and Kermeno (mid-16th) to Le Mordant, La Porte, Sanguin, then Pontcarré de Viarme. Louis Jean Népomucène Le Camus de Pontcarré, councillor at the Paris Parliament, inherited it before being guillotined in 1794. In the 19th century, Hippolyte Nicolazo de Barmon undertook restorations, especially on the ditches, before the decline accelerated in the 20th century.

Among the notable architectural elements, the octagonal well of the courtyard of honour and the three monumental chimneys – one decorated with cariatids and Renaissance rinsels – illustrated the splendor of the place. The saved chimney, acquired by the State for 300,000 francs, was brought back to Kerjean Castle by the company René Léger (Nanterre) in 1959, at a cost of 22,450 francs. The excavations also uncovered Roman remains near a nearby hill.

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