Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The manor house of Saint-Pierre-du-Mont is an old fortified house built at the end of the Renaissance, between the second half of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. Located in the Calvados department in Normandy, it is distinguished by its architecture combining defensive elements (round turret, enclosure wall) and Renaissance characteristics (sculpted lucarnes, limestone facade). The house, flanked by a square tower, preserves traces of its seigneurial past, like a sundial engraved above the main entrance.

Two dates mark his story: 1600, engraved on the lintel of a gate of the wall of enclosure, and 1617, affixed on a skylight with the initials of François du Mesnil and his wife Suzanne de Grourdy, first certified owners. The mansion then changed hands several times, passing by alliance or sale to the noble families of Froutté, Beaurepaire, Mesnil de Saint Paul, Saint-Hilaire and Béchevel. Its strategic location, 600 meters from the peak of the Hoc, is worth it considerable damage in June 1944 during the bombings of the Disembarkation, with 212 recorded impacts.

The restoration of the mansion was undertaken after the war by the Beck family, the new owner. Although the agricultural buildings (stables, stables) have disappeared, there is still a press, a 16th century bakery with its bread oven, and an old chapel. The entrance porch, decorated with stone balls, and the defensive turret with a corbelled dovecote bear witness to its dual residential and protective use. Since 1927, its facades have been listed as historical monuments, preserving this Norman heritage.

The site also preserves symbolic elements of seigneurial life, such as the initials of the engraved owners or the shooting openings of the turret. The proximity of Saint Peter's church and the 514 departmental road underscores its anchoring in the local landscape. Today, the mansion illustrates the evolution of noble homes in Lower Normandy, between medieval heritage and Renaissance influences.

External links