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Origin and history

The Saint-Clair hill is a castral motte, remains of a medieval fortified building, located on the former municipality of Mesnil-Vigot (now integrated with Remilly Les Marais, Manche). Ranked a historic monument in 1979, it dominates the surrounding marshes and retains traces of its military past, such as a bassyard and moat. Its flat top, surrounded by a ditch, measures about 40 meters in diameter for a height of 6 to 8 meters.

The motte fell under the fief du Hommet and was occupied by the Remilly Barons, cited between 1080 and 1252. In the 11th century, it housed a stronghold controlled by Norman lords, including Jourdain III du Hommet († 1271), the last of his lineage to own it. The site then passed to the families of Courcy, Malesmain, then Montauban by successive alliances. In 1356, during the Hundred Years' War, the moth was besieged and destroyed by the supporters of the king of Navarre, before being abandoned.

In the 15th century, the baronnie ran to Rohan-Guémené, then to the Matignons around 1609, when almost nothing remained of the castle, except the lower courtyard and a chapel today disappeared. The site still contains archaeological remains: an angle of masonry tower (14th century), pottery studs, and armored pavement tiles from the 13th to 14th centuries. The chapel of Saint-Clair, razed at the Revolution, was still visible in ruins in the 19th century.

The motte illustrates Norman medieval defensive architecture, with a low-yard arched circle and a ditch system. The excavations suggest a continuous occupation from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, marked by partial reconstructions. Oaks bordering the site, included in the 1979 ranking, reinforce its historical and landscape character. Today, the site offers a material testimony of feudal dynamics in Lower Normandy.

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