| Historic Callac
Tourist monuments and places of interest in Callac:
• The Castle of Callac
• Ruins of the church Notre-Dame de Botmel, old parish church of Callac;
• Gallo-Roman bridge, on the commune of Callac;
• Rule of the Naous standard, station of Callac, by the animalist sculptor George Lucien Guyot (1958). The Castle of Callac
In the twelfth century, a Count of Poher had an imposing castle built at the end of the rocky outcrop overlooking the Rue de la Gare and the Rue Traversiere.
The plan of this fortress forms a triangle with the "Kleuz-meur" (big ditch) at the base: one of Callac's streets is still called "Rue du Clemeur". The curtain wall was pierced to the south by two adjacent gates giving access into the square. This double gate has given its name to the "Rue des Portes" which was made later at the entrance to the feudal citadel.
Within the castle, the lords and the inhabitants built a chapel, no longer visible, dedicated to Saint Catherine on what is now the Place du Centre. Little by little, the dwellings increased giving rise to the formation of a village. And so Callac was born.
The castle was taken by the English in the fourteenth century, then besieged by Dugueselin in 1363 and demolished in 1393 on the king's orders. In 1475 the lords of Plusquellec built a new castle that was later demolished in 1552. Only the keep remained. In 1585 the Benedictines from Quimperie Abbey became the lords of Callac but they were not able to rebuild the castle.
A letter from the king and an order from the court of Paris, perhaps from Richelieu, dated the 14th August 1619, ordered the demolition of the ancient twelfth century castle. It was taken apart stone by stone and these stones were used for constructing the mills of Quinquis and Kerdréquen, the church of Botmel and the tower of the vault Sainte Catherine (located on the Place de Martray). The exploitation of this strange quarry ended in about 1743-1744.
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