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Origin and history

Villers Castle is a 17th century building located in Villers-sur-Mer, Calvados. Built in bricks and stones in the Louis XIII style, it retains a facade marked by two rectangular pavilions joined by a central body decorated with arcades and a turret. Its interior, redone under Louis XVI around 1770-1780, reflects a late architectural evolution.

Originally, the family of Hemery, lords of Villers since the end of the sixteenth century, was at the initiative of its construction. Hemery, page of Cardinal Le Veneur and then governor of Courcy, consolidated the local fiefs by his marriage to Marguerite d'Avila in 1576. In 1692, his descendant Antoine d'Hémery, ruined, lost the seigneury to the Malon de Bercy, who sold it in 1700 to Jean Pâris de Monmartel, Marquis de Brunoy.

The estate then passed to Armand Louis Joseph de Brunoy, who died without an heir in 1791, and then to his cousin Marie-Antoine Paris d'Illins. The castle, partially listed as historical monuments in 2003, includes Louis XVI woodwork and a protected vegetable garden. Its architecture, unchanged since the seventeenth century, bears witness to the influence of Norman seigneurial residences of the time.

Historical sources, such as the writings of Arcisse de Caumont (1853) or the archives of the Lisieux library, underline its role in local heritage. The site is also referenced in the Mérimée base, confirming its architectural and historical importance in Normandy.

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