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Origin and history

The priory of Saint-Hymer, founded in the 11th century by Hugues II de Montfort, became a collegiate assembly of regular canons under William the Conqueror, then a Benedictine priory in 1147. The monks of the Bec make it a quasi-abbatial establishment, with a church with Romanesque remains and a cloister partially dated from the 16th century. The site, traversed by the Yvie River, includes hydraulic installations (living, waterfalls) and a 17th century press.

In the Middle Ages, the priory had up to thirteen monks, but declined from the 15th century. After three centuries of stagnation, he was reborn in the 18th century under the impulse of Henri-Emmanuel de Roquette, an abbot Jansenist. The latter made it a focal point for the dissemination of ideas of Port-Royal, nicknamed the "Port-Royal de Normandie", while restoring the buildings (east wing in 1738) and creating a school for poor children (1764).

The Revolution closed the priory in 1791, but his last prior, Louis-Charles de Grieu, bought it as a national good and preserved it. In the 19th century, Colonel Jean-Charles Langlois became its owner and was buried there in 1870. The site, bequeathed to Pont-l'Evêque Hospital, houses an EHPAD until 2020. Among his famous residents is Jeanne Le Calvé, known as "Mother Denis", buried in the adjacent cemetery.

The building is partially protected as historical monuments: the priory building and the cloister's courtyard were registered in 1948, followed in 1997 by elements of the prioral enclosure (press hall, mausoleum, hydraulic installations) and the former "Small Schools" (current town hall).

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