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Origin and history

The Château de Neaufles-Saint-Martin, built in the 12th century, was a strategic fortress overlooking the Epte and Levrière valleys, 800 metres north of the local church. Its location on a ridge 30 meters high offered an extensive panorama and military control over the accesses to Gisors, facing the French Vexin. The current tower, known as the White Queen's Tower, is the vestige of a 13.60-metre-diameter circular dungeon built around 1180-1184 with 2.90-metre thick walls.

The site already housed a wooden fortification as early as 856, mentioned during the Neaufles plaid convened by Charles le Chauve to organize the defense against the Vikings. In the 11th century, Guillaume Crespin, vassal of the Dukes of Normandy, reinforced its defences with a castral motte and a deep ditch. Reconstructed in stone by Robert de Bellême for Guillaume le Roux in 1097, the castle became an issue between kings of France and England. Henri II Plantagenêt modernized it in 1160 to block access to the Epte valley, then Philippe Auguste seized it in 1196 after the invasion of the Norman Vexin.

In the 14th century, the White Queen of Navarre, widow of Philip VI of Valois, lived there until her death in 1398, giving her name to the surviving tower. The dungeon, the only vestige after Henry IV, was partially destroyed in 1647 by order of Mazarin, who had it cut vertically in half. Ranked a historic monument in 1926, it now bears witness to the medieval conflicts between Capetians and Plantagenets, as well as Norman defensive architecture.

The 20-metre high dungeon had four levels, including a 6-metre underground and a sun terrace. Its openings, rare and framed with limestone, contrast with its flint walls drowned in a thick mortar. The lower court, surrounded by arched ditches, extended 200 metres along the cliff, illustrating the adaptation of the site to its natural topography.

Located near Gisors, the castle served as an advanced support point to control the border between the Norman Vexin and the French Vexin. Its strategic position made it a key element of the plantagenet defensive systems, especially when creating a line of strong castles along the Epte in 1183 to counter Philippe Auguste.

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