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Origin and history

The Château de Nacqueville, also known as the Château de Fourneville, is a house dating from the 15th to the 16th centuries, which was completely renovated in the 19th century. Located in the Nord-Cotentin, on the former town of Urville-Nacqueville (now integrated with La Hague, Manche), it is partly listed as a historical monument. Its architecture blends Renaissance elements, such as a house flanked by pepper towers, with subsequent additions, including an isolated medieval gate, vestige of the defensive enclosure shaved in 1690.

The seigneury of Nacqueville arose from the merger of two neighboring fiefs, Fourneville and Les Marets (or Marais), united by alliances or buybacks in the 16th century. In 1501, Jean de Grimouville, lord of Fourneville, began the construction of the current mansion. His son, John VI, married Renée de Saint-Gilles (des Marais) in 1525, sealing the union of the two fiefs. In the 17th century, Bernard Mangon des Marest bought the estate (1689), razed the defensive enclosure and added a pavilion to the house. The castle was occupied by the English in 1758 during the Seven Years' War and became a refuge for royalists in 1794.

In the 19th century, Hippolyte Clérel de Tocqueville (brother of Alexis de Tocqueville) inherited the castle in 1826 and undertook important restorations. It created a 35-hectare English park, designed by an English landscaper around 1830, with ponds, waterfalls and exotic plants. In 1877 Hildevert Hersent, president of the Engineers of France, modernized the castle and improved the park's hydrographic network. The estate is still in its progeny: in 2018, it belongs to Florence d-Harcourt, great-great-great-granddaughter d-Hersent.

During World War II, the castle was successively occupied by German troops (including Hitlerite youths) and then by an American staff in 1944–45. The park even served as an improvised camp for 60,000 German prisoners in 1945. The Americans conducted the "Project Tournesol", an educational programme for 632 prisoners, installed in tents in the courtyard of the castle between July and November 1945.

The castle preserves remarkable elements such as a Renaissance fireplace with double coat, 16th-century mantle windows, and an inscription reminiscent of the 1758 English landing: "Les Anglais on déssendu le 7 daoust ano 1758". The medieval portery, with its two round towers and its drawbridge (the grooves of which are still visible), has been classified as a historical monument since 1944. The facades, roofs and park (with its hydraulics) have been registered since 1992. The park, classified as a "natural site" in 1969, extends over 110 hectares and houses rare floral species.

Today, only the park is open to the public, while the entrance hall of the castle and the poterne exceptionally open during Heritage Days. In 1922, the castle served as a setting for the silent film La Dame de Monsoreau, directed by René Le Somptier. The estate thus illustrates almost five centuries of history, between Renaissance architecture, military occupations and landscape heritage.

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