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Origin and history

The house of the Hospital-Robin, located in Saint-Servant in Brittany, dates from the 3rd quarter of the 17th century, as attests the engraved inscription FFP MR LE GALL 1672 on its facade. This mention, meaning "Made by Missire Le Gall", suggests that it was a priest's house, the term "missire" commonly referring to an ecclesiastical. The building, with a massed plan close to the square, is distinguished by a neat granite architecture, with holes in arase bolts and a wooden stairwell with ancient vantail. Superimposed chimneys, one of which is destroyed, and traces of exposed crawlers indicate an original thatch roof, subsequently replaced.

The interior structure reveals a monoxil staircase serving a floor and a top, while the structure, modified, preserves traces of an old upper-cruck technique with punch and rolled in. A nearby stone, dated 1677 and bearing the same surname Le Gall, reinforces the hypothesis of a link with the local clergy. The quality of materials and decor, such as firemakers or chimney stumps, reflects the high social status of the builder, probably an influential priest in the community. The facades and roofs have been protected since 1996 under the Historic Monuments.

The monument is part of an alignment of rural houses, with an adjacent bread oven, typical of the Breton habitat of the seventeenth century. Its southern orientation and compact plan (one room per floor) illustrate an adaptation to the climatic and social constraints of the time. The mention of a semi-detached house dating from 1664, sharing a chimney strain, evokes a dense village organization, where constructions juxtaposed to pool resources. The inscription in bas-relief, preserved under the skylight, remains a rare testimony of religious piety and patronage in the Ancien Régime Brittany.

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