Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Manor House of La Motte, located in Saint-Pierre-des-Ifs (Calvados), is an emblematic building of the 4th quarter of the 15th century, representative of the log houses of the Pays d'Auge. Its structure combines a corbellation on base frames, a gallery transformed into a corridor, and back-to-back chimneys characteristic of the era. The place was both a seigneurial possession and a farm, with outbuildings (grange, stable, stable) still visible today.

Originally, the seigneury belonged to the Abbey of Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge (12th century), before being owned by the Bréard family in the 17th century, although the latter probably never resided there. The manor house has architectural similarities with that of Saint-Gilles-de-Livet, notably because of its carved motifs and its two-paned roof covered with flat tiles. The floor, illuminated by dissymmetric windows, and the monumental skylight highlight its late medieval style.

The square turret with a spiral staircase serves a floor formerly equipped with a gallery, typical of the Augian manors of the 15th to 16th centuries. The restored outbuildings retain their original agricultural character, although the 17th century press disappeared in the 1990s. Ranked a Historic Monument in 2004, the site illustrates the evolution of Norman rural homes, between seigneurial function and peasant activity.

The mansion is part of a bocage landscape, marked by the agro-pastoral economy of the Auge Country. Its architecture reflects local constructive techniques (columbing, flint, stone) and social uses of the period: a modest home for an absent lord, coupled with an active farm. The geometric motifs of the facades and the monumental chimneys bear witness to a desire for prestige, despite a vocation above all utilitarian.

Today, the Mansion de la Motte offers a preserved example of Norman rural heritage, where seigneurial history and agricultural traditions combine. Its listing in the inventory of Historic Monuments protects a coherent whole, from the medieval home to the farm buildings, to the traces of later developments, such as the disappearance of the press in the 20th century.

External links