This has featured in my project before back in June 2014 ( http://365project.org/vignouse/365/2014-06-22 ) and as I was nearby today, I thought I would pay it another visit. These are the remains of the Château de Breil on the outskirts of the small Breton town of Iffendic. Once a magnificent manor house, built over a 3 year period from 1860 to 1863, it was destroyed by fire on the night of the 27-28th June 1903 and was never rebuilt - home now only to a large colony of crows and the landowner's cows... neither of which were in evidence today!
Another one which is definitely better viewed on black.
@dbj Well, in a way I guess; they're concrete patches to hold the structure together where some of the stonework has fallen. Probably done over 50 years ago when there was still a (slight) chance that the building would be renovated and turned into a convent.
@seattlite I very much doubt it Gloria; you can see that large parts of the walls have fallen in and there is not much of the interior left... a combination of the damage caused by the fire, 100+ years of weather gradation and the pillaging of the building over the years to provide materiel for more modest dwellings. This photo shows the back elevation - I have added the link to my June 2014 image to my commentary as this shows the rather more elegant front facade. Here is a link to a site - in French I'm afraid - which has some more images, including a rare one of the château in its heyday: http://manoirs-d-iffendic.e-monsite.com/pages/le-breil-chateau.html#
My kind of place, they look like a rich man's folly now, but the retain the elegance of their day. I don't know what your profession was Richard but I think like me you respect craftsmanship..
