“It is a good breed” remarked Louis XV about the Turgots. They are  originally from Scandinavia like Rollon and his companions, and tradition dates them back to Togut, King of Denmark (in 800). Condorcet, in his  life of Turgot (the economist) writes  that the name signifies the god Thor (Thor Gott) in the language of the Vikings. Before establishing themselves in France during the epoch of the Crusades, the Turgots lived in Scotland, Saint Turgot was minister to King of Scotland Malcom III, and prior of the Abbey of Saint Andrew (1115). They moved to Normandy at the invitation of Oliver ll de Rohan in 1309.

The Lantheuil estate was acquired by Antoine Turgot  de Saint-Clair in 1613 and the construction of the Chateau was undertaken by his son Jacques. 

Benoit-Antoine Turgot de Saint-Clair was the second cousin of Michel-Etienne Turgot, Marquis de Soumont, provost of the merchants of Paris, author of the famous map known as the “Plan Turgot” and the father of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Marquis de l’Aulne and finance minister of Louis XVI.

His grand nephew, the Marquis Turgot, Louis Felix Etienne, foreign minister, senator, then French ambassador to Spain in 1853, and to Switzerland, was a close friend and cousin of Emperor Napoleon lll. The Chateau has belonged to the Turgot family since its construction. The entire estate became a listed Historical Monument in 1931.