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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Château de Cricqueville-en-Auge, located in Calvados in Normandy, is an emblematic building of the 16th and 18th centuries. It replaces an old castle whose moat has almost disappeared. Its architecture blends brick and cut stone, with a north facade made of polychrome dazier characteristic of the Norman Renaissance, while the south facade, remodeled in the eighteenth century, has a more sober and contemporary style.

Originally, the fief belonged to the families of Silly (XIII–XIVth centuries), then to Launay (from the 15th century). Guillaume de Launay, seigneur in 1497, and his nephew, anobished in 1467, marked the beginning of his nobiliary history. Robert de Launay, son of Guillaume and Jeanne de Betteville, married Marguerite Richard in the 16th century. Gentile man of Henry III and knight of the order of Saint Michael, he erected the present castle, symbol of his prestige, with imposing towers and chimneys adorned with exotic cariatids.

In the 17th century, the estate passed to the Bence by marriage, before being transformed by Philippe-Guillaume Jacquier de Vieils-Maisons in 1773, which modernized the southern facade. In the 19th century, the castle changed hands several times: acquired by Jean-François Goupil in 1819, then by the Chevallier family in 1847, including Jean-Baptiste, mayor and general councillor, was plundered in 1889 for his ties with the Count of Paris. The Lecoeur became its owners in the 1930s.

The interior preserves four monumental 16th century chimneys, dated 1584, decorated with floral motifs and cariatids inspired by Norman travels in South America. The commons, partly in strips of wood, once housed a press and a dovecote, now extinct. The castle, partially protected from historical monuments since 1927, illustrates the architectural and social evolution of the Norman nobility, from the Middle Ages to the modern era.

The monument's protection extends to the facades (classified in 1965), the roofs of the communes (registered in 1996), and the four 16th century chimneys (classified in 1997). Its gate in the middle of the wall, its stone walls and its pond, a vestige of the medieval lower courtyard, complete a remarkable heritage complex, witness to the successive transformations of a auger seigneury.

Dendrochronological studies reveal parts dating back to the late 15th century, although major extensions took place in the 16th and 18th centuries. The north facade remains intact, contrasts with the south facade, recreates and pierced with two vantal windows. The roofs with cut strips, comparable to those of the castles of Fontaine-Henri or Lion-sur-Mer, highlight the Renaissance influence in Normandy.

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