Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Keranroux Castle, located 2.8 km northwest of Morlaix in Finistère, was built between 1773 and 1774 to replace a 17th-century manor house in ruins. François Gabriel de la Fruglaye, heir to the estate after the death of the Marquis of the Parc de Locmaria, decided to build this new castle on a height, in order to escape the humidity of the banks of the river Morlaix. The former mansion, of which only foundations remain, dated from the 17th century and belonged to the family of the Park since the early 1600s.

The seigneury of Keranroux dates back to at least 1301, when Yvon de Keranroux, commissioned by Henri V, Count of Leon, to maintain the forest of Cuburien, became its first known owner. The estate changed hands several times in the Middle Ages: the family Le Treut in 1427, then the Coatquis, Jehan Estienne in 1445, and finally Alain de la Forest in 1543. He passed the estate on to his descendants for four centuries, notably via François du Parc, who bequeathed Keranroux to his brother Claude at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

In the 18th century, the castle became the heart of a vast estate including a park, a dovecote of the 16th century (spared during the bombings of the Second World War), and a neo-Gothic chapel built between 1839 and 1843 by Marie de la Fruglaye. The latter, known for her dedication to the cholera epidemic of 1832, had family burials built there. The castle, in a classical symmetrical style, is distinguished by its armored pediment, its brick and stone fireplaces, and a monumental staircase leading to a terrace.

The estate underwent changes in the 19th and 20th centuries, such as rebuilding the communes or adding a model farm. During World War II, the Allies bombed the castle, occupied by the Germans, partially destroying the chapel but sparing the dovecote. Today, the castle, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1992 for its facades, roofs, and interior elements, remains a major architectural testimony of Finistère, opened for private events.

Among the notable figures related to the castle, Paul Émile de la Fruglaye, son of François Gabriel, was a royalist officer exiled in 1792 for trying to escape Madame Royale. Back in 1802 he became deputy of Finistère then pair of France under the Restoration. His grandson, Paul de Chaloagny, then transferred the estate to the Gouyon family in Beaufort, whose last heirs died during the First World War.

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