En un regard
Le château en bref
Joyous Gard Castle, is a castle of Arthurian legend.
‘Known in the past as the castle of “Dolorous Gard”, a place of extortion and crimes committed by bloodthirsty giants, the intrepid knight Lancelot of the Lake managed to free it, and it then took the name “Joyous Gard”,.’
Since the 15th century, it has been identified with the castle located at the locality of Goelforest in La Forest-Landerneau, in Finistère. Built on the site of a former fortress that is said to date from the 6th century, it has been listed as a monument historique since 6 October 1975.
Chevalier de Fréminville described the state of the ruins in 1844 as follows: “Some sections of wall, foundations at ground level, the bases of the towers and the circumvallation of the ditches, and finally the pointed arch of the gateway, are all that remains (...). These remnants are sufficient to reveal the entire plan, which was an oblong square flanked by five towers, one at each corner and the fifth in the middle of one of the sides. (...) In the midst of its ruins, one finds a souterrain, but its opening is now almost entirely blocked. The state of dilapidation in which this castle lies is not due to the ravages of time alone. In 1342, the troops of Charles of Blois, having seized it from those of John of Montfort, who held it garrisoned, had it dismantled and reduced to ruins.”
