Manoir de Lesmadec
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de Lesmadec, located in Peumérit (Département 29), 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
- Peumérit, Département 29, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.9462, -4.3055
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090162
Nestling in the south of Finistère, Lesmadec manor house boasts a medieval U-shaped floor plan, with raftered gables and corner posts carved with fantastic creatures - a 15th-century Breton Gothic gem.
History
In the heart of the Bigouden region, in Peumérit, the Lesmadec manor house is one of those discreet buildings that Brittany knows so well how to keep secret. Far from the beaten tourist track, it offers those who seek it out an authentic insight into Breton seigneurial architecture, with its blend of flamboyant Gothic and rural sobriety. Its U-shaped layout, opening onto a south-facing pleasure garden, bears witness to a thoughtful design in which the domestic space interacts with the surrounding landscape, characteristic of the manor houses of the landed gentry of Finistère. What really sets Lesmadec apart is the ornate richness of its facades, despite their apparent modesty. The raftered gables - the rows of saw-toothed rubble that accentuate the roofs - frame the meticulous masonry, while the corner quoins feature fantastic animal sculptures, veritable hybrid creatures from the Breton medieval imagination. This bestiary of stone, rare in this type of rural building, gives the manor house a strong visual identity and an almost dreamlike quality. The most surprising feature is undoubtedly the cross-vaulted eastern doorway, which supports a circular dovecote. This combination of a Gothic entrance and a cylindrical dovecote is a unique architectural feature, revealing the social status of its patrons: in the Middle Ages, the right to a dovecote was a jealously guarded prerogative of the nobility. Inside, the layout of the buildings is still clearly visible, with a stone staircase and a square pavilion set against the back of the main house. The experience of visiting, intimate and silent, is one of architecture that has not sought to impress but to endure. The farm buildings, remodelled in the mid-nineteenth century, are a reminder that Lesmadec was first and foremost a living farm, rooted in the cycles of the Bigouden land. The southern ornamental garden, probably a legacy of the 18th-century remodelling, adds a gentle touch to this austere ensemble. Photographers and lovers of rural heritage will find plenty of food for thought here.
Architecture
The Lesmadec manor house adopts a U-shaped layout typical of Breton seigneurial architecture in the late Middle Ages, with the wings framing an inner courtyard open to the south. This layout, which protects the building from the prevailing north-westerly wind while providing favourable exposure to the sun, reveals a practical knowledge of the climatic constraints of Finistère. The main house retains its herringbone gables - a typically Breton decorative technique in which the ashlars form a sawtooth pattern along the railing - and its corner quoins sculpted with fantastical animals, probably hybrid gargoyles and heraldic creatures, which are the most remarkable ornamental detail of the ensemble. To the rear of the main building, a stone staircase leads to the upper floors, in accordance with an external layout common in Breton manor houses of this era, avoiding encroaching on the living space, and a square pavilion completes the composition. The most unusual architectural feature is the eastern gateway, whose Gothic pointed arch serves as the base for a circular dovecote. This superimposition of a medieval passageway and a cylindrical dovecote is a rare combination that bears witness to a certain amount of constructive ingenuity: the walls of the vaulted entrance literally support the pigeon tower, thus combining two markers of noble status - the architectural entrance and the right to a dovecote - in a single compact volume. The interior of the dovecote features a remarkable layout of boulins (dovecote niches) assembled in series of three rows, separated by projecting stone beds that facilitate maintenance and structure the interior space with a constructive logic typical of 15th-century Breton dovecotes.
Related Figures
La famille de Lesmadec — lignée noble cornouaillaise commanditaire de la construction initiale au XVe sièclePropriétaires du XVIIIe siècle — responsables des remaniements classicisants et de l'aménagement du jardin d'agrémentArtisans tailleurs de pierre bretons du XVe siècle — sculpteurs des cornières en animaux fantastiques et de la porte gothiquePropriétaires du XIXe siècle — commanditaires de la modernisation des bâtiments agricoles vers 1850
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de Lesmadec located?
Manoir de Lesmadec is located in Peumérit, Département 29 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Manoir de Lesmadec built?
Manoir de Lesmadec dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de Lesmadec open to visitors?
Manoir de Lesmadec is currently closed to visitors.