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A little history of Fontaine-Henry castle

The castle | Ikmo-ned / CC-BY-SA
Castle Fontaine-Henry castle

When Henri de Tilly owned the estate in the middle of the 13th century, he found ruins of an old medieval castle demolished during the Hundred Years War... Our man decided to raise a chapel.

In 1373, the Harcourt family, a powerful Norman Family, owned the castle. Jean de Harcourt, lieutenant in Caen, raised a first Gothic dwelling house at the end of the 15th century.

In the reign of king Louis XII they added a nice high Gothic style building with mullioned windows: did you see it? It's the square tower!

A vast detached house was added in the 16th century. By the way, did you notice this high, high roof? Oh, so dizzy!

The castle then fell to the Morais by marriage in 1530. At that time, architect Blaise Le Prestre (who raised the nice Escoville house in Caen) was in charge of the building site.

In the 18th century, new owners furnished the apartments. Let's make room in the Classical style! Henri de Carbonnel relaid out the landscaped garden in the 19th century, with sinuous alleys, copses... The owner of the house even dug two ponds.

About the the author

Vinaigrette
I'm fond of strolls and History, with juicy and spicy details!