Carentan

The trail “Treasures of Carentan”

50500 CARENTAN

The trail “Carentan, a medieval town”

50500 CARENTAN

The Medieval Arcades

The gallery bordering the north side of the Place de la République is the oldest example of civil architecture in Carentan, and the only illustration in Normandy of four medieval houses linked by 10 pillars. They are believed to be the remains of an old covered market, which would also have existed in the 14^th Century on the southern side of the square.

Hotel de Dey

rue de l’église

The facade of this mansion dates from the 17^th Century. You will notice a plaque indicating that Honoré de Balzac lived in this house in 1836 and wrote the short story “The conscript”. The interior of this hotel until recently still showed woodwork from the 17^th Century.

Hotel de Maillé

This hotel is located on the church square, Place Guillaume de Cerisay. The Hotel de Maillé, now called Hotel de Chanvallon, housed the illustrious Napoleon 1st, on the night of May 25^th 1811, when he visited Cherbourg. The hotel became the present Rectory in 1861.

Church of Notre-Dame

The church Notre-Dame of Carentan is a listed historical monument and was built in the 11^th Century. It was mentioned for the first time in 1105 by Orderic Vital during the visit of King Henry 1st of England, on Easter Sunday. The only remains of the Romanesque era are the west portal, the lower part of the pillars, and the four main pillars of the crossing with the Romanesque arches.

In 1443, the English occupied the country. The church was falling into ruins. Reconstruction works started with the nave and the south aisle. Guillaume de Cerisay, a knight and Bailiff of Cotentin, greatly endowed the church. Its surface area was doubled by the construction, around 1466, of the Flamboyant Gothic choir, ambulatories and the north aisle. The consecration of the church was celebrated in 1470.

In 1517, the Rosary Chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was added to the end of the choir. The barrier around the choir and some fifteen windows date from the same era.

In June 1944, during the D-Day landings, U.S. bombing caused serious damage to the spire, to the west portal and the choir. The organ and the roof were badly damaged, stained glass windows were shattered and the clock ceased to function. Fortunately, the original stained-glass windows had been put to safety somewhere in the provinces in 1940.

Paintings :

• • In the choir, “Assumption of the Virgin”, a beautiful painting from 1652, in the centre of the altarpiece, on the main altar (1655 ),
  • In the Chapel of the Rosary “Donation of the Rosary” (18^th Century). Above it is another small painting, “God the Father”.
  • a beautiful ” Annunciation” (17^th Century) in the south transept
  • The” Virgin of the Apocalypse ” (18^th Century) in the north transept
  • The “Martyrdom of Saint Gorgon” and the ” Crucifixion of St. Peter “, painted on wood panels (16^th Century).

The Great Organ of Notre Dame : the Organ of Our Lady of Carentan

Listed Historical Monument for its case and pipes, the organ was restored in the traditional spirit of the late 17^th Century. It is one of the few instruments of this style in the department of la Manche . It was built between 1803 to 1805 and is the work of Louis Lair, an organ builder from Le Mans.

A shipowner’s house

Rue Sivard de Beaulieu.

The beautiful facade of this shipowner’s house dates from the Second Empire and is topped  with a crest depicting a steamer. A few metres away, there is a surprising portal on the facade of a 19^th Century house.

The marina

Well before the construction of the existing marina, a harbour was established in Carentan by the Gaullic family les Unelles. It was destroyed during the barbarian invasions of the late 4^th Century. In the Middle Ages, a harbour was built near to the city walls at “le Quay-au-Vin” on the bed of the river “Gouffre”, which flowed into the Taute. The traffic of goods (meat , grain, poultry , wine, salt and rushes which were used to feed the Lord’s oven) was operated by wooden barges navigating through the marshes.

Prior to 1700, vessels of between 100 and 200 tons would sail into town, but siltation, and the accumulation of alluvial sediments condemned the harbour.

After 1700, for reasons of hygiene, of economics and strategy, important works for draining the marshes began around the town. In 1805, under the leadership of Napoleon 1^st, canals were dug, locks were installed, and a new harbour was developed on the beautiful Haut Dick Canal with a double lock system. Work began in 1842 and ended in 1851. Significant traffic developed between Le Havre and Carentan, bringing prosperity to the town until 1940.

In June 1944, the harbour suffered serious damage in the operations conducted by the Allies after the landings. The locks had been destroyed, and silting worsened. Activity in the harbour was not restored until 1981, and this time was only dedicated to recreational navigation.

The marina of Carentan opened to recreational boating in 1983.

The dock, with its green surroundings perfectly fits in the urban environment. It has been awarded the European Blue Flag for the past 23 years for the quality of its facilities and services. The water is retained in the marina thanks to the locks, a way-marked channel allows access to the open sea via the magnificent Baie des Veys

Le Haut Dick: you can enjoy a walk around the harbour via a path along the banks of the canal, over the aqueduct and the locks, where a fitness trail has been created.

The Aqueduct

The aqueduct was designed in order to avoid spoiling the perspective of the canal in the sensitive environment of the marshland.

This piece of 20^th century engineering is unique in France: it allows the dual-carriageway (RN 13) to run under the half tide dock, between the marina and the sea. One of the main problems with this design is the resistance to hydrostatic pressure due to the presence of an expanse of water almost rising to the banks; the road is in fact 10 meters below the level of the canal. Water drainage is performed by pumps, and continuous monitoring has been implemented.

With regards to aesthetics, the engineer Charles Lavigne, used the struts (these act as a damper on the sideways thrust exerted on the walls) to evoke the inverted rib of a wooden hull.

Do not be surprised if, as you drive under the aqueduct, you spot a sailing boat passing above you !

Hotel de Lessey

Located rue des prêtres, it was built by the family Auxais from Sainte-Marie-du-Mont in the 17^th Century. It later became the Augustinian convent and now houses the school of Notre Dame.

Hotel de Ponthergé

An interesting double gate, located at number 47, rue Sébline. The carved gate is flanked by buttresses and decorated with delicate arabesques in the Renaissance style. Did you know? According to a deed 28^th November 1695, the possession of this house gave the owners the right to be buried inside the church. The hotel was built in 1554.

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The town hall 

The building was built between 1644 and 1652 by the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, who inaugurated their convent in March 1652. There used to be a chapel at the end of the building’s left wing, overlooking rue Holgate and a cemetery. The left wing was completed in 1655. The facade of the central part was rebuilt in 1717. The right wing was erected in the late 18^th Century. In 1792, the nuns were ordered to vacate the convent, because the town council wanted to use some of the buildings: The convent alternately served as a garrison barracks, a gendarmerie, a secondary school, offices for the Justice of the Peace, a library and a primary school.

Finally the municipal departments were moved to this distinctive building, which combines elements of the past and present. You will notice, on the square, a development that is both classic and very contemporary: a pretty artificial river complete with a waterfall.

The Laundry House

This very impressive wash house was built in 1784 in the ancient district of “the fountains”, and is fed by several springs. The wash house has a large and shallow open air basin, made of large slabs of stones. It is surrounded by a gallery of massive columns, in Caen stone.

These columns have square bases and capitals supporting an imposing wooden frame. Beautiful carved stone gargoyles adorn the basin.

Just behind the wash house, at the top of a few steps on the right, a small gully carrying water passes under the roots of a tree. This is the spring which feeds the wash house. Right at the top you will find a modern marble sculpture “Ensemble vers l’eau de la”, a work by Didier Poisson (2006).