En un regard
Le château en bref
Manoir de Bel-Air overlooks the north bank of the Aber Ildut at Brélès (Finistère). Some historians place the legendary Castel-Mériadec there, said to have been founded in the 4th century by Conan Mériadec. An earlier building stood on the site of the locality of Kerengar, recorded in 1462 as the property of Yvon de Kerengar. The present residence was built between 1585 and 1599 by François de Kerengar, whose carved motto can still be read: “Pray for François de Kerengar, who had me built, and Bel Air named me, 1599”. It remained in the Kerengar family until 1810, then passed to the Claisrambault family, to Baron Grivel and, from 1893, to the de Taisne de Raymonval family. Built in a U-shape around an enclosed courtyard, it retains two corner turrets (échauguettes), a former drawbridge, two ornate chimneypieces decorated with sculpted faces (possibly Henri III and Catherine de Médicis), a round 17th-century dovecote, and a quay with a slipway giving direct access to the sea, defended by four 19th-century cannons.