Malouinière de la Motte-Jean
ManorHidden Treasure
Malouinière de la Motte-Jean, located in Saint-Coulomb;Cancale (Département 35), 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
- Saint-Coulomb;Cancale, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.6765, -1.8866
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090773
Nestling in a hollow of land overlooking the Bay of Cancale, this early 18th-century malouinière reveals the lifestyle of the privateers of Saint Malo, with its tiered gardens and classic Breton architecture.
History
The Malouinière de la Motte-Jean is one of those discreet, refined residences that the privateers and shipowners of Saint-Malo had built in the countryside at the turn of the 18th century, sheltered from view and the winds of the open sea. Built with strategic subtlety in a hollow of land on the borders of the communes of Saint-Coulomb and Cancale, it is the perfect embodiment of the taste for country retreat cultivated by the great families of the Malo race between two expeditions. What really sets La Motte-Jean apart from the many other Malouin cottages in the Malouin region is its intelligent integration into the landscape. Far from dominating the landscape in the manner of a plain castle, it nestles elegantly into the background, exploiting the natural relief to create a succession of tiered gardens - the upper garden, accessed by a majestic horseshoe-shaped staircase carved from gilded stone, and the lower garden, once adorned with a pond and moat that shimmered below. The visit is first and foremost an experience of wandering between two worlds: the noble severity of the H-shaped main building, with its projecting pavilions structuring the façade, and the bucolic gentleness of the gardens organised according to a logic that is both ornamental and practical. The rectangular chapel dating from 1707, now converted into an attic and cellar, testifies to the depth of time of the site and its successive metamorphoses. Photographers, lovers of Breton rural heritage and maritime history enthusiasts will find exceptional material here: the Malouinière de la Motte-Jean is not immediately obvious, but can be discovered, angle after angle, like an enclosed world preserved from the centuries. The late afternoon light, shining down on the granite façades and the steps of the horseshoe staircase, makes it a striking photographic subject.
Architecture
The Motte-Jean malouinière has an H-shaped floor plan, typical of Breton domestic architecture in the first decades of the 18th century. The layout features a sober, rectilinear central main building, flanked by two projecting pavilions that structure the main facade and give it an elegant gravity without ostentation. The walls, probably made of local granite - the almost exclusive material used in Malouin construction during this period - are treated with an economy of ornament that enhances the dignity of the whole: no superfluous pilasters, no excessive sculpted decoration, but a quality of fit and finish that is sufficient to express the social standing of the patron. The composition of the gardens is the other major architectural feature of the site. The upper garden, accessed by a horseshoe-shaped stone staircase - a prestigious feature typical of Breton middle-class residences - provides a terrace from which to view the estate in its entirety. The lower garden below, laid out around a pond bordered by a moat, was once a classically-inspired landscape painting, a distant echo of the great French compositions adapted to the more intimate scale of the malouinière. The rectangular chapel, built in 1707 as a separate annex to the main building, features the simple architecture typical of private Breton oratories: a single nave, narrow openings and a low-pitched roof.
Related Figures
Armateur corsaire malouin du début du XVIIIe siècle (commanditaire probable, identité non établie)René Duguay-Trouin (corsaire malouin, figure emblématique du contexte historique ayant enrichi les familles bâtisseuses de malouinières)Robert Surcouf (corsaire malouin, représentant de la génération suivante de l'élite maritime qui perpétua la tradition des malouinières)Administrateurs révolutionnaires d'Ille-et-Vilaine (responsables de la réquisition du manoir en hôpital pendant la Révolution)
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Malouinière de la Motte-Jean located?
Malouinière de la Motte-Jean is located in Saint-Coulomb;Cancale, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Malouinière de la Motte-Jean built?
Malouinière de la Motte-Jean dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Malouinière de la Motte-Jean open to visitors?
Malouinière de la Motte-Jean is currently closed to visitors.
