And I like to tell you this time about an off the beaten path nice town call Guingamp in the Côtes d’Armor dept 22 of my lovely Bretagne! I have written before much on its history, this time had a bit more time in my road warrior trips ,and would like to expand on the Château Pierre II. Hope you enjoy it as I.
Briefly, Guingamp is located 110 km from Brest and 130 km from Rennes. Saint-Brieuc, the prefecture, is 32 km away. It is about 109 km from my house ! The N12 road , the old royal road from Paris to Brittany now the main road passing by it and it goes all the way to Fougéres where I connect with Paris lately. However, mostly from my house I take the D768 north.
The Château de Pierre II is a former fortified castle, from the beginning of the 11C, located in the town of Guingamp. The original motte, called motte au Comte, was raised around the 11C. During the 12C, this mound was razed by order of the Plantagenets during the resumption of the Duchy of Brittany and replaced by a polygonal stone fortification, until the end of the 14C, when the Duke of Brittany Jean V ordered its destruction. It was on this date that the new medieval structure was erected by order of Pierre II de Bretagne or Peter II of Brittany.
The Château de Pierre II was also part of the defensive belt of the city: ramparts built in 1446 by Jean de Beuves for Pierre II, were also present and drew the contours of the city in the 15C. When the ramparts were completed in 1456, the town had: six towers Toulquéllénic, Traou-Zach, Saint-Sauveur, Luduec, La Fontaine and Champ du Roy au Mauroy, Four access gates, Locmikaël, Tréguier, Montbareil, and Porte de Rennes, and two posterns completed this defensive system, Quincy and Saint-Jacques. The castle was ordered destroyed by Louis XIII in 1626, in retaliation for the revolt of César de Vendôme in the conspiracy of Chalais, lord of Guingamp at the time.
The Château de Pierre II now only offers three visible towers, each with a diameter of 13.50 meters and a height of 20 meters, After the move of the kindergarten and primary school in the 1990s, the castle was cleaned in 2004, modern buildings built over time, housing the community of the Sisters of Wisdom and remains of the girls’ school, transferred. The release of these buildings made it possible to carry out the first excavations in 2005. It is now held for events and in the process of transformation with a long project still not done.
The Guingamp heritage on the Château de Pierre II : https://patrimoine-guingamp.net/la-ville/les-fortifications/le-chateau-de-pierre-ii/
The City of Guingamp on the castle and future : https://www.villeguingamp.bzh/index.php/bienvenue/le-patrimoine-guingampais/le-devenir-du-chateau-pierre-ii
The local Guingamp Paimpol tourist office on the castle :https://www.guingamp-paimpol.com/en/welcome-to-guingamp-baie-de-paimpol/relaxing-on-land/heritage-sites/le-chateau-de-guingamp-1782282
Other things to see in Guingamp are the ruins of the Saint Croix Abbey, the Chateau des Salles at the Allée des Marquis, and the Basilique Notre-Dame de Bon-Secours (see post).
There you go folks, a dandy of a town , worth the detour, glad to be back. Hope you enjoy the Peter II castle or Château Pierre II of Guingamp as I. And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 
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