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Origin and history

The Château de Chaulieu is an old fortified house built in the 16th century, modified in the 17th and 18th centuries, located in the southeast of the Manche department in Normandy. Originally, it replaces an older castle on a strategic site of Mortan, 1.2 km northwest of the former village of Saint-Sauveur-de-Chaulieu, now integrated in Chaulieu. The estate, surrounded by moat, consists of a quadrangular house flanked by schauguers, a 16th century guardhouse, and a west door decorated with sculptures. Its architecture blends defensive elements (system of rooms, granite fireplaces) with refined interior decorations, such as a polychrome painted ceiling in the large living room.

The construction of the Cour de Chaulieu is attributed to Pierre Bourget, nephew of Thomas Bourget, Sieur de Saint-Germain-de-Tallevende. A recipient of the sizes at Vire et Conches in 1587, Pierre Bourget finished his career at the Finance Office in Caen and died in 1638 after being converted to Protestantism. His family kept the castle until 1706, when he passed to Jacques de Carbonnel, a Kenyan Protestant bourgeois. In 1742, the estate was transferred by marriage to the family of Calmesnil, then sold in 1753 to Julien des Rotours, lord of the Lande-Vaumont, whose descendants owned it until 1989.

The castle played a role during the revolutionary troubles: in 1796 Louis de Froutté, the caulian chief, stayed there with his officers. That same year, Jacques-Augustin de Rotours, Baron of Chaulieu, died there. His son, Louis-Jules-Auguste de Rotours, heir at the age of 16, joined the Royal Army of Normandy commanded by Froutté. Injured in 1799 during an attack on Vire, he escaped the Republicans and took refuge in Chaulieu. The estate remained in his family until the 20th century, despite the damage sustained in 1944 during the Battle of Normandy: Mortain's counter-attack seriously damaged the buildings, left abandoned until their acquisition in 1989 by Mr. and Mrs.Cenni, who undertook their restoration.

The castle is partially classified as a historical monument since 25 July 1973, protecting its facades, roofs, as well as an 18th century fireplace decorated with paintings. Inside, the original defensive system is still visible, with parts designed to protect each other by wired fire. The estate also preserves period furniture and traces of its Protestant and military past, particularly related to Norman caulianry.

In August 1944, the castle hosted the command post of General Gerhardt's 29th US Infantry Division during the liberation of Normandy. The battles of the Battle of Mortain left deep scars on the buildings, aggravated by decades of abandonment. The restoration initiated in 1989 saved this architectural testimony of the 16th–15th centuries, marked by periods of conflict, religious change and social transitions in Lower Normandy.

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