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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Caux bailli hotel in Caudebec-en-Caux came into being in the 14th century, when the city, the seat of a royal bailliage since the 13th century, erected a judicial complex comprising a prison and a courtroom. Adjoined by the city's eastern ramparts, this complex also includes a Saint-Léonard chapel. The materials come in part from the demolition of the tower of the Fascines, reused to build the bailliage at the corner of the streets of Crosne and Vicomté in the eighteenth century. After the Revolution, the building became the city hall in 1811, marking its adaptation to the new administrative functions.

The Second World War caused major destruction: the building on the street (former bailliage) was razed during the bombings of June 1940 and 1944, as was the courtroom, whose foundations remained buried. Only the prison, made of stone, survives partially. It consists of two rooms on the ground floor, dungeons and a guard room upstairs, as well as bass asses rediscovered in 1983. These remains reflect the prison and judicial functions of the site.

Ranked a historical monument by order of 16 October 1934 for its building body, protection was extended in 1996 to the prison's land base and to the remains of the adjacent rampart. Today, the building, a mixed property (municipal and private), illustrates medieval judicial architecture and its transformations, despite the losses caused by modern conflicts. Its location on Rue du Bailliage, near the old ramparts, recalls its central role in local history.

Historical sources, such as Le Patrimoine des Communes de Seine-Maritime (1997), highlight the importance of the bailliage of Caux, a key institution of royal power in Normandy. The prison, with its dungeons and oblivions, reflects the criminal practices of the Ancien Régime, while its re-use as a city hall in the 19th century shows administrative continuity. The destructions of 1940-1944 erased part of this heritage, but the protected remains still allow to study its evolution.

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