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Key figures

Origin and history

The Château de Lauvergnac, located in the commune of La Turballe (Loire-Atlantique), originates in a seigneury attested from 1395. The toponym, of Breton origin, evokes a region populated by alders. Originally owned by the Lauvergnac family, the estate passes through alliances and successive sales to Le Pennec (XV century), The Hague (1673), and La Bourdonnaye (1749). The latter, noble parliamentarians of Rennes, raised Anne François Augustin de La Bourdonnaye, born in 1747 in Guérande. The castle changed hands again in 1773 (Le Pourceau de Mondoret family) before being acquired in 1855 by the Geloës d'Elsloo, who gave it its present appearance.

In the 19th century, the Earl of Geloës of Elsloo radically transformed the manor in troubadour style into a vogue. He added a glass gallery opening onto the park, raised a crenellated tower, rebuilt the chapel of Sainte-Barbe with its slender arrow and stained glass windows, and erected a house body decorated with lead gargoyles (monkey, crocodile, salamander). The estate, then spread over 300 hectares, includes four farms, three mills and pastures on the cliffs. Despite these changes, a Renaissance pavilion of the second half of the 16th century remains, a witness to earlier times.

The history of the castle is marked by its successive owners, often linked to the Breton nobility. Pierre Le Pennec, anoblished in 1433 by the Duke Jean V for his services during the siege of Pouancé (1432), enlarged the seigneury in 1463. Marriage alliances and land transactions shaped his destiny, as in 1673 with the sale to Pierre de The Hague, or in 1773 when he joined the Le Pourceau de Mondoret family. The Geloës family of Elsloo, the last owner before 2005, leaves a lasting architectural footprint, mixing medieval heritage and 19th century romanticism.

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