Timeline

Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Château de Saint-Brice, formerly known as Château de la Motte, is a 17th-century monument located in Saint-Brice-en-Cogles, Ille-et-Vilaine. It replaces an old castle mentioned since 1151, fallen in ruins in the 16th century. The present site, built at the beginning of the seventeenth century, forms three sides of a square flanked by four pavilions, with an entrance door framed by turrets, vestige of its old fortifications. It also includes an orangery, a baluster basin and a chapel, as well as a classified feudal motte.

During the Chouannery, the castle was the scene of violence in 1795: on 20 July, six people were shot in the nearby woods by volunteers from Saint-Marc-le-Blanc, who then looted the castle. Four days later, national guards returned for another looting, during which a servant, Françoise Hédou, was murdered, and a national guard of Rimou killed accidentally. These events illustrate local tensions during this period of civil war.

The castle has been protected as historical monuments since 31 October 1975, with a prior inscription of the site in 1942. The feudal motte, facades, roofs and chapel are classified elements. The estate, once surrounded by a pond and linked to the Barony and then to the Marquisate of Fougères, bears witness to the architectural and political evolution of the region since the Middle Ages.

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