Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet)
ManorHidden Treasure
Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet), located in Plésidy (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
- Plésidy, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4570, -3.1150
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089421
Lost in the Breton moors of Plésidy, Toulgonec Manor is a late 15th-century granite manor house, preserved in its austere integrity with large mantelpieces and exposed beamed ceilings.
History
In the heart of the Côtes-d'Armor region, in the secluded wooded countryside of Plésidy, Toulgonec manor house - sometimes spelt Toul-an-Golet, "the hole in the valley" in Breton - stands out as one of the most authentic reminders of Brittany's rural gentry at the dawn of modern times. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1927, it embodies, with remarkable sobriety, the art of building of the country gentlemen who, without the fortune of the great lords, nevertheless intended to assert their rank in stone and over time. What sets Toulgonec apart from the countless noble residences in the region is above all the integrity of its interior. Where so many similar manor houses have undergone successive alterations over the centuries, this one has preserved its large granite mantelpieces, whose majestic proportions contrast with the modest scale of the rooms, as well as its exposed joist ceilings, whose dark, weathered wood alone tells the story of five hundred years of life under these low vaults. Two rooms per floor, a staircase housed in a turret - the layout is almost didactic in its clarity, revealing the lifestyle of an unostentatious nobility. The visit is as much about the setting as the building itself. Toulgonec isn't easy to get to grips with: you have to take the back roads of the Trégorrois hinterland, cross landscapes of embankments and hedged farmland dotted here and there with the flamboyant Gothic architecture of the manor houses, to suddenly discover this bluish-grey granite silhouette, compact and almost defensive in its proportions. The low-angled light of the Breton mornings, sculpting the micaceous reflections of the stone, provides photographers with shots of rare intensity. For lovers of medieval civil architecture, Toulgonec is a masterly lesson in how to read in stone the ambitions and constraints of a pivotal period, when Brittany was about to fall into the French orbit. For the curious visitor, it's a rare opportunity to touch - almost literally - a residence that seems never to have really left the 16th century.
Architecture
The manor house at Toulgonec is an almost paradigmatic example of a late-Gothic Breton manor house, built entirely of local granite, the stone with its bluish-grey and silvery sheen that so characterises the built landscape of the Côtes-d'Armor region. The layout follows the canonical model for small noble houses of the period: a sober, sparsely decorated rectangular main building, flanked by a turret with an off-staircase, the most elaborate architectural feature. The interior layout is almost monastic in its clarity - two rooms per floor - responding both to the constraints of thrifty construction and to the needs of a modest-sized household. The turreted staircase, a distinctive and almost obligatory feature of Breton manor houses of this era, provides vertical access to the building with exemplary economy of means. The openings - mullioned windows, probable doorways with round or semi-circular arches - respect the codes of an architecture that was still largely flamboyantly Gothic, even if certain decorative details already betray the first influences of the Renaissance, which was slowly penetrating Brittany from the major royal projects. It is the interior that holds the most precious surprises. The granite fireplaces with their large mantels, whose imposing proportions dominate the rooms, bear witness to a concern for social representation as much as for thermal comfort: in a manor house of this size, the seigneurial fireplace was a sign of status. The exposed joist ceilings, preserved in their original state, give these rooms an atmosphere of rare authenticity, evocative of Breton aristocratic daily life on the threshold of the modern era.
Related Figures
Famille de Toulgonec — lignée noble bretonne éponyme, bâtisseurs présumés du manoir à la fin du XVe siècleSeigneurs de Plésidy — suzerains de la région, dans l'orbite desquels s'inscrivait la famille de ToulgonecDucs de Bretagne (fin XVe siècle) — dont la cour et les chantiers influencèrent les formes architecturales adoptées dans les manoirs campagnardsCommissaires aux Monuments Historiques (1927) — inspecteurs ayant reconnu la valeur patrimoniale exceptionnelle du manoir et obtenu son classement
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet) located?
Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet) is located in Plésidy, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet) built?
Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet) dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet) open to visitors?
Manoir de Toulgonec (ou de Toul-an-Golet) is currently closed to visitors.