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Origin and history

Keroué Manor House, also known as Kerroué (Residence of the so-called King in Breton), is located in Loguivy-Plougras, in the Côtes-d的Armor. Its history began in the 15th century with the construction of a first castle by Alain du Dresnay, born of a younger branch of this noble family. The present Renaissance building was built mainly between the late 16th century (circa 1580) and the early 17th century, under the leadership of François du Dresnay and his wife Marie de Penmarch. The manor, facing southwest, features a yellow granite facade decorated with pilasters, a monumental staircase, and defensive elements such as mâchicoulis and scauguettes. It remained unfinished, as evidenced by the waiting stones visible on the central pavilion.

In the 17th century, the estate passed to the families Le Lagadec de Mézedern, then Roquefeuil and Porée du Breil, before being acquired by the family La Morinière in 1990. During the French Revolution, the mansion served as a refuge for the caulian leader Charles-Guillaume Poens de Kerilis and the insermented priest Philippe-Ange Ellès. The property, which includes a chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine (dated 1636) and a 16th century barn, was classified as a Historic Monument in 1993. The chapel houses the burial of Claude-René de Lagadec (1751–37), the last male descendant of his line and mayor of Loguivy-Plougras.

The Kéroué mansion illustrates Breton seigneurial architecture of the Renaissance, marked by a return to defensive elements during the Wars of Religion. His initial plan provided for a central corps flanked by two pavilions, but the troubles of the League (including the death of Pierre du Dresnay in 1594 during the siege of Morlaix) interrupted the work. In the 19th century, the castle fell into ruins before being gradually restored. A local legend, collected by François-Marie Luzel, tells the story of a horse thief, Bilz, who allegedly married the heir to the castle after he fooled the Marquis of Kerroué.

The estate covered 38 villages in Loguivy-Plougras and 11 in Plougras, forming a vassal seigneury of Guingamp. The Dresnay, then the Lagadec, exercised their authority there until the Revolution. The chapel, moved near the castle in 1998, preserves Renaissance elements like an altar and a painted panel. Today, the manor house, being rehabilitated, bears witness to the turbulent history of the Breton nobility between Renaissance and modern times.

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