The great clock-tower, a fine fifteenth-century building with a massive spire, is found in the Rue de l’Horloge. It was given to the town by Anne of Brittany in 1507.
The Château of Dinan was built by the Breton dukes (1382-87). Its history was varied and vivid, as one reads in the pages of M. Gaultier de Mottay.
Oliver Clisson, Gilles of Brittany, Viscount Rohan, Duchess Anne, Laurent Hamon, and many others whose names are famous in the history of Brittany have walked through these halls, of which only the hold to-day remains as a tourist “sight.”
The Tower of Coëtquen, one of the ancient towers of the city wall, forms practically a part of the old castle, but the keep, or the Queen Anne’s Tower, a hundred or more feet in height and of four stories,—the topmost reached by a spiral stairway of 148 steps,—is the most distinct feature still standing.
In the interior are a number of obscure cells which were, and indeed are still, terrible dungeons. The guard-room is on the second floor, with also a little room, which served as an oratory for the Duchess Anne. The third floor is occupied by the Constable’s Hall, and the fourth by a Hall of Arms, a fine vaulted apartment.
To-day the castle is a prison, and the rank and file of visitors may not enter this fine mediæval monument, but, if one have a proper appreciation of the architectural delights of a mediæval fortress, and be diplomatic in his request, very likely his wish to enter will be gratified.