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Origin and history

Graffard Manor House, located in Barneville-Carteret in the English Channel, is a 16th-century mansion, renovated in the 18th century, dating back to a medieval fief mentioned in the 12th century. Its strategic location, overlooking Carteret Harbour, made it a key monitoring point during the Hundred Years' War, notably under English occupation (1356-1361). The fief then belonged to the Lefebvre family of Graffart, which kept it until the beginning of the 16th century. The present house, built around 1574-1575 by Pierre Pitteboult during the Wars of Religion, replaces an old strong house. Its architecture, inspired by Serlio, incorporates defensive elements such as a square enclosure and turrets.

In the 17th century, the manor house remained in the Pitteboult family, which provided amenities, such as the 18th century vegetable garden. The seigneury of Graffard, including mills, saline and seigneurial rights, passed through successive alliances to the Moustier families, Hennot du Rosel, and then Bignon. Jérôme-Frédéric Bignon, the king's librarian, inherited it in 1764, but his property was confiscated during the Revolution. The mansion, already transformed into a farm before 1789, was sold in 1920 by the heirs Desfriches, Count Doria. Today, it preserves medieval remains (premises, dovecote) and a partially ruined Renaissance home, protected since 1995.

Among the remarkable elements are a 16th century cannon decorated with the salamander of Francis I, an armorial stone dated 1744, and vaulted cellars similar to those of the Manor of Saint-Christophe-du-Foc. The seigneurial chapel, dedicated to Saint Michael, was still in use in 1740. The site illustrates the evolution of a Norman seigneury, from medieval conflicts to its post-revolutionary decline, through its golden age under the Pitteboult.

The square outer enclosure (65 metres side) includes a porch flanked by a defensive turret and a circular tower used as a dovecote. The communes, partly dating from the 17th century, housed stables, carterie and barn. The house, of which three of the four pavilions have disappeared, has a facade inspired by classical architecture, with a ramp staircase on an integrated ramp. These characteristics are a rare testimony of the adaptation of Norman manors to the military and social evolutions of the 16th–15th centuries.

Ranked a historic monument in 1995, Graffard's mansion includes in its protection the house (with its cellars and decorative elements), communes, walls, turrets, porch and vegetable garden. Its history reflects the political upheavals of Normandy, from the Anglo-Navarra conflicts from the 14th century to the Revolution, through the wars of Religion. The site, although partially in ruins, offers a complete panorama of the organization of a coastal seigneury, from its defences to its agricultural operation.

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