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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

Tremazan Castle, located in the municipality of Landunvez (Finistry), is a medieval fortress in ruins dating mainly from the 12th to the 15th centuries. Located 250 metres from the sea, in a swampy bowl near the place called Kersaint, it was the capital of the fief of the Chastel family, one of the most powerful of Leon. Its square dungeon, 28 meters high, dominates a double fortified enclosure, testifying to its defensive and residential role. The site, surrounded by moat and crossed by a stream, was connected to the sea by a natural hydraulic system.

The building of the castle is closely linked to the ascent of the Chastel family, mentioned from the thirteenth century. Bernard du Chastel, owner in 1351, reportedly commissioned the dungeon around 1315–50, followed by a first fortified enclosure housing seigneurial dwellings. A second enclosure, dating back to the 15th century, bound a bassyard. The castle, symbol of the power of the Chastel, was however destroyed in 1220 during a conflict with the Duke of Brittany and rebuilt thirty years later. The Notre Dame seigneurial chapel, erected as a collegiate chapel in 1518, and the jurisdiction of Kersaint underline its administrative and religious importance.

From the 16th century, the decline began with the extinction of the male lineage of the Chastel. The castle, sold as a national good during the Revolution, served as a stone quarry in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its materials are reused to build the Saint-Louis church and a performance hall in Brest. Abandoned, it was inhabited in the 19th century by a hermit nicknamed "Napoléon", the last occupying place. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1926, the site suffered a partial collapse of the dungeon in 1995, revealing a four-storey living tower.

Archaeological excavations, such as those conducted by Gildas Durand in 1978, have clarified his chronology. The dendrochronological analyses of beams confirm a construction mainly in the 13th and 14th centuries, questioning the legends of an origin prior to the 12th century. Today, the association SOS Château de Tremazan works for its preservation, organizing symposia (like the one of 2004 in Brest) and financing consolidations. The dungeon and the first enclosure, acquired by the municipality in 1998, remain the most impressive remains, surrounded by legends such as that of Saint Haude or of the marine erosion close to the castle of the coast.

Architecturally, the castle blends medieval defensive elements (wood, harrow, assumer) and subsequent adaptations, such as cannons in mâchicoulis. The dungeon, initially 30 to 35 metres high, houses bunk rooms accessible by a staircase integrated in the thickness of the walls. The descriptions of the 19th century, such as those of A. Marteville (1843) or Allain Ferrand (1903), highlight its majestic appearance despite the ruins, evoking a Moorish fortress or a symbol of the lost greatness of the Chastel. The dovecote of the 16th century and the remains of the lower courtyard complete this ensemble, now protected but fragile.

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