Manoir de Mézarnou

The Manoir de Mézarnou is a fortified 16th century manor-house located in the Finistère département of Brittany in northwestern France. It is located in the small rural town of Plounéventer, near Landivisiau. It was erected by Yves de Parcevaux, who reorganised the domaine between 1571 and 1591.

The manor of Mézarnou was built on the site of an old medieval building, property in 1091, of Pierre André de Parcevaux, husband of Sybille de Trogoff. In 1145, Ollivier de Parcevaux donated to the abbey of Relecq. In 1250, Pierre de Parcevaux accompanied sire de Chateaubriand to the Holy Land with King Louis and the Duke of Brittany during the Seventh Crusade. In 1297, Pierre de Parcevaux was on the council of the Duke of Brittany. In 1393, Tanguy de Parcevaux married Odile de Kerlouan. The son of the latter, Allain, was secretary of John V of Brittany.

The building was rebuilt in the sixteenth century by Yves de Parcevaux, lord of Prat-Hir (son of Maurice and the grandson of Allain) and Jeanne de Bouteville, his wife (married on 20 March 1554). The château (owned by Hervé de Parcevaux) was looted in 1594 by Yves Du Liscouët (one of the notorious chiefs of the royalist party during the troubles of the Holy League), then visited the following year by Guy Éder de La Fontenelle who kidnaps and marries Marie Le Chevoir (daughter of a first marriage of Renée Coëtlogon, wife of Hervé de Parcevaux). The chapel was once located 100m to the south, near the manor's former entrance, at a place called "Park ar Japel" It has disappeared along with the dovecote, which was reported in the sale of 1720 to Marshal Poinçonneau.

After the French Revolution, Mézarnou is sold as national property and the farm was bought by Bonaventure Ollivier. The family Abhervé-Guegen becomes owner of Mézarnou in 1806, passing by marriage into the hands of the Martin family. In 1985, part of Mézarnou belongs to the Martin family, the other part, since 1960, belongs to Louis Appéré (formerly the family Jaffrès). In 1995, Mézarnou was shared between three owners (the Society of History and Archeology, Joseph Le Goff and Roger Aballain).

Mézarnou was built according to the invariable plan of old Breton manors. A rectangular closed courtyard with the main edifice at the far end, on either side two longères of service buildings (the one on the right now ruined) and in front a wall more or less fortified and pierced with two unequal doors (now ruined), the cart entrance and pedestrian door. This wall, of a thickness of 1.50m, bore a gallery on corbelled constructions to which one attained access by a passage from the first floor of the defensive tower. Defence was assured by this small tower with loopholes.

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Wikipedia