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Origin and history

The Inthéville Manor House, also known as the Inthéville Court, is a former fortified house located in Fermanville, Manche, Normandy. Built between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century by the family of Pirou, lords of Fermanville since the 14th century, it probably replaces an older castle of the 12th century, itself succeeding the Castel de la Mondrée, destroyed by the sea around 900. The site preserves a 12th century Romanesque chapel dedicated to St Stephen and St Madeleine, the only vestige of the primitive building. The current pink granite buildings form a closed square courtyard, typical of the large seigneurial farms of the North Cotentin under the Old Regime.

The family of Pirou, then Davy d'Amfreville (from the 17th century), mark the history of the mansion. In 1643, Pierre Davy, the first Marquis d'Amfreville, closed the courtyard by operating buildings. His sons, including Charles-François Davy d'Amfreville, lieutenant-general of Louis XIV's naval armies, were illustrated in the Royal Navy. The chapel, sacked during the Revolution, also saw the marriage of Anne Davy in 1739. In the 19th century, the facade of the house was rearranged to standardize the windows, while troops in garrison damaged the Baroque altar of the chapel during the First World War.

The architecture of the mansion combines Renaissance elements (presmatic windows, octagonal tower) and medieval remains (circular tower, ogival-window Romanesque chapel). The commons, blind towards the outside, are home to a three arched chareterie in granite, surmounted by skylights decorated with scallop shells. The chapel, adjacent to the north, combines Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles. In 2002, facades, roofs, commons, defense tower and chapel were listed as historical monuments.

According to local tradition, the manor house has replaced a feudal castle located at Roc du Castel, on the banks of the Mondrée. The term court indicates a curtis, a seigneurial residence of state exploitation since medieval times. In the 20th century, the mansion was briefly transformed into a gite of France. The walls of the enclosure preserve remains of the schauguettes, testimonies of the defensive arrangements passed.

Successive owners, such as the Boissière family (mentioned in 1845), reflect the social changes of Normandy. During the Terror, Jacques-Marie d'Avice, seigneur of Fermanville, escaped the guillotine thanks to the fall of Robespierre in 1794. The cellars of the mansion, according to legend, would have housed a tunnel leading to the castle of Saint-Pierre-Eglise, illustrating the local defensive networks.

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