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Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de La Caunelaye, located in Plancoët in Côtes-d'Armor, is a monument dating back to a former T-shaped mansion. The oldest parts, such as the west wing and the wing back to the north, bear witness to this primitive structure. East wing, added in the eighteenth century, modernized the facade and expanded the building. The coat of arms of the couple Joseph-Victor of the Breil of Pontbriand and Agathe of the Plessis-Mauron, which were burned during the Revolution, recall the political upheavals of the time.

The estate was originally a seigneury with high judicial rights, passed under the municipality of Plancoët in 1841. The Thomas family, the first known owner, played a notable military and political role, with members such as John Thomas II or Pierre Thomas, governor of Dinan and Saint-Lô. The transformation of the mansion into a castle in the 18th century was attributed to the Breil de Pontbriand, of which Toussaint Marie distinguished himself as a royalist during the Revolution. The well of the sixteenth century and the parts of water, now partially disappeared, evoke the old hydraulic organization of the site.

The interior architecture reveals traces of successive modifications: 16th century chimneys in the west wing, blocked windows, and additions of the 20th century as the kitchen joined to the north wing. The waiting stones visible on the east and west sprockets suggest an unfinished enlargement project. The cadastre of 1827 mentions a source feeding pools and gardens, now reduced to two pieces of water. The name Caulnelaye, linked to the presence of alders, reflects the original humid landscape.

The castle preserves discrete defensive elements, such as iron grilles in windows or a bay walled in the dining room, possibly linked to old monitoring functions. The gowns in a gendarme hat and the triangular pediment, stripped of its coat of arms, illustrate the classic sober style of the 18th century. The monumental staircase and the ceiling height of the main rooms underline the aristocratic residential character of the place.

Listed as part of the general inventory of cultural heritage, the castle of La Caunelaye embodies the evolution of a Breton seigneury, of the fifteenth century Thomass, long-lived, to the Breil of Pontbriand, actors of the political struggles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its history combines architecture, local power and adaptations to historical contexts, from the Renaissance to modern renovations.

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