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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Château de Carantilly is a house in the commune of Carantilly, in the department of Manche, Normandy. Built on the bases of an older manor house, it was built in three construction campaigns throughout the 18th century, then enlarged under Louis XVI. The estate, still in the same family since 1660, was completed before the French Revolution, as evidenced by a plan of 1796.

The castle is partially protected from historical monuments: its facades are classified in 1978, while the roofs, the commons, the wrought iron staircase and several interior rooms are inscribed. The farm and the lower yard, dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, include an attested press in 1796, with traditional equipment still in place.

The estate suffered damage during the storms of 1987 and 1999, damaging the castle and ravaging the park. The first known lord, Jean de Soule, dating back to the 11th century, had accompanied the Duke of Normandy Robert Courteheuse to the first crusade. However, the present castle is linked to the family of Mons, including Louis Coudreau de Planchoury, Thomas-Honoré de Mons and Léonor-Honoré de Mons, who marked its architectural history.

The protected elements also include outbuildings such as stables, bakery, laundry, and the garden wall. The press, built in shale and earth, keeps a wooden wheel and a long-knit press, testimonies of past agricultural activities.

Today, the castle remains an example of Norman noble architecture, mixing medieval heritage, transformations of the Lights and traces of rural activities of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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