Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

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. It stands in the Nord-Cotentin, on the former commune of Urville-Nacqueville (now integrated with La Hague, Manche), in the Normandy region. The estate, partly listed as historical monuments, combines a Renaissance mansion with a landscape park designed under the Second Empire, reflecting the architectural and horticultural influences of its time.

The seigneury of Nacqueville originated in the merger of two neighbouring fiefs, Fourneville and Les Marets, united by alliances or buybacks in the 16th century. The families of Grimouville and Saint-Gilles, successive owners, built the current mansion between 1501 and the end of the 16th century. In 1525, the marriage of John VI of Grimouville and Renée of Saint-Gilles sealed this territorial union. The castle, initially surrounded by a defensive enclosure, was modified in 1689 by Bernard Mangon des Marest, who kept only the gate and adjusted the house.

In the 18th century, the castle was occupied by the English during the Seven Years' War (1758), after its landing in the Urvilleanse with 12,000 men. During the Revolution, Jean-Baptiste Barbout de Querqueville hid royalists there before dying there in 1794, arrested by the Revolutionary Court. In 1826, Hippolyte Clérel de Tocqueville, brother of Alexis de Tocqueville, inherited the estate by his wife and undertook his restoration, creating a 35 hectare floral park designed by an English landscaper.

The 19th century marked a major modernization under Hildevert Hersent, president of the Engineers of France, who acquired the castle in 1877. He improved the hydraulics and replaced the interior. During the Second World War, the estate was successively occupied by German troops (including Hitlerite youths), then by an American headquarters in 1944. In 1945, its park housed 60,000 German prisoners, of whom 632 benefited from the "Project Tournesol", an American educational programme organized in the courtyard of the castle.

Architecturally, the castle preserves medieval elements such as the round tower gate and a drawbridge, as well as a Renaissance house decorated with gabled windows and 19th-century skylights. An inscription recalls the English landing of 1758. Inside, a Renaissance double coat fireplace, supported by committed columns, bears witness to the past. The park, classified in 1969, houses ponds, waterfalls, and a botanical diversity including palm trees and exotic plants.

Today, the estate belongs to Florence of Harcourt, great-great-great-granddaughter of Hildevert Hersent. Only the park is open to the public, while the castle lobby opens exceptionally during Heritage Days. The poterno, vestige of fortifications, is also accessible. The site remains a living testimony to Norman history, mixing medieval heritage, modern transformations and significant events of the 18th to 20th centuries.

External links