Manoir de la Ville-Daniel
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de la Ville-Daniel, located in Plaine-Haute (Département 22), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Manor
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Plaine-Haute, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4542, -2.8310
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089389
Nestling in the heart of inland Brittany, the manor house of Ville-Daniel displays its Renaissance elegance around a trapezoidal courtyard, with its freestanding staircase tower and finely sculpted basket-handle door.
History
At the bend in a sunken lane in the commune of Plaine-Haute, in the Côtes-d'Armor department, the manor house of Ville-Daniel stands out like a perfectly preserved fragment of the Breton Renaissance. Built in the middle of the 16th century, this building of character has survived the centuries without losing the essence of its soul: sober, refined architecture tinged with the ornamental influences that circulated between the Loire and Brittany at the time. What really sets Ville-Daniel apart from many other manor houses in the region is the unity of its composition and the quality of its sculpted decoration. The basket-handle entrance door, crowned with a flowery brace and decorated with curly cabbages - a typical late flamboyant Gothic motif that was still very much alive in Brittany in the 16th century - is a masterpiece of local stone carving. The escutcheon that crowned this ensemble, now obliterated by time or the Revolution, hints at the social ambitions of its patrons. The spatial organisation of the estate reveals a clear seigneurial logic: the large dwelling occupies the northern corner of the trapezoidal courtyard, flanked by its freestanding staircase tower in the re-entrant corner formed by the wing turned at right angles. This tower, the stone of which still retains the memory of a date - 1559, now illegible - structures the interior layout with a functional elegance typical of Breton Renaissance manor houses. A discreet semi-circular turret on the reverse side of the wing testifies to the care taken to ensure domestic comfort. To visit Ville-Daniel is to take in several centuries of aristocratic rural economy in a single glance: the seigneurial dwelling, the outbuildings below and the farm to the south-east together form the silhouette of a self-sufficient estate, that of a family of small Breton nobility who prospered through skilfully negotiated matrimonial alliances. The natural setting reinforces the impression of travelling back in time. The bocage landscapes of the Côtes-d'Armor surround the manor house in a typical Penthièvre green setting, inviting you to stroll and contemplate. Photographers and architecture enthusiasts will appreciate the soft, ever-changing light, which is particularly generous in spring and autumn.
Architecture
The manor house of Ville-Daniel is part of the tradition of Breton Renaissance manor houses, characterised by the synthesis between the last flamboyant Gothic ornaments and the new sensibilities of the French Renaissance. The complex is laid out around a trapezoidal courtyard, a shape dictated by the topography of the land, which creates a hierarchy of different buildings: the large seigniorial dwelling in the north corner, the outbuildings on a lower level, and the farmhouse to the south-east. This carefully thought-out layout illustrates the functional organisation of a 16th-century noble farm. The main dwelling comprises a main building onto which a wing has been added. In the re-entrant angle formed by this wing, a staircase tower rises out of the ground, a common interior distribution feature in Breton Renaissance civil architecture. A semicircular turret, used as a latrine, completes the rear of the wing with functional discretion. The main tower, the top of which once bore the date 1559, visually structures the whole and gives the manor its recognisable silhouette. The sculpted decoration concentrates all the ornamental sophistication of the building on its most representative parts: the entrance door, the stair tower and the upper sections. The basket-handle door, a form still inherited from the Gothic period, is surmounted by a flower-bedecked brace embellished with curly cabbages - a plant motif characteristic of the late Breton sculpture workshop. The coat of arms that adorned the tympanum, deliberately removed no doubt during the Revolution, bears witness to the noble identity that presided over this entire decorative programme. The materials used are those of the local tradition: granite and Armorican sandstone, carefully cut for the decorative elements, give the whole its characteristic grey hue of the manor houses of Penthièvre.
Related Figures
Famille Le Voyer — propriétaires du manoir de 1426 à 1617, commanditaires probables de la construction Renaissance vers 1559Seigneurs de Quintin — suzerains de la baronnie dont relevait la seigneurie de la Ville-DanielMaîtres tailleurs de pierre bretons — artisans anonymes responsables du décor sculpté (porte en anse de panier, choux frisés, accolade fleuronnée)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de la Ville-Daniel located?
Manoir de la Ville-Daniel is located in Plaine-Haute, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Manoir de la Ville-Daniel built?
Manoir de la Ville-Daniel dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de la Ville-Daniel open to visitors?
Manoir de la Ville-Daniel is currently closed to visitors.