The Château des Barons du Pont is located in the commune of Pont-l'Abbé, in Finistère, 19 km southwest of Quimper.
It was originally a feudal mound built by the monks of the nearby Loctudy abbey in order to control a bridge over the river which flows into the ocean a few kilometers downstream.
After the Norman invasions, the site was taken over by lords who became "barons of Pont" and thus gave its name to the city.
In the 14th century, the castle was rebuilt by Baron Hervé in the form of a fortified manor made up of an imposing rectangular main building, framed on each side by a large tower. One of these towers is flanked by a turret housing a stone-core staircase.
The castle subsequently experienced several episodes reflecting the tormented history of the region: it was partly burned in 1675 during the revolt of the "Red Caps", peasants protesting against new impositions. Then, during the Revolution, although rebuilt on medieval cellars a few decades earlier and equipped with new dormer windows, seized and sold, the estate served a time as a prison then was partly dismantled.
Acquired by the city in 1836, the castle was restored and then housed the town hall, a school but also the gendarmerie and a court.
In 1954, a new restoration campaign was initiated. The beautiful building, three levels high and built in granite, still houses the services of the town hall but also, within the old keep, the Bigouden museum, whose collections bring together headdresses and embroidered costumes, furniture from period and archive images.
Since January 2022, a vast restoration project on the castle has been undertaken and the site, also listed in the Inventory, is closed to the public (museum included) until 2025. Information on +33 2 98 66 00 40 or +33 2 98 66 09 03.