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Origin and history

The Tower of Archives is the last vestige of an 11th century castle located in Vernon, in the department of Eure in Normandy. It faces the Château des Tourelles, on the other side of the Seine, once protecting a bridge today disappeared. Ranked a historic monument in 1840, it bears witness to Vernon's strategic importance in the Middle Ages, on the border of Norman Vexin.

Around 1040, the Norman lord Gui de Brionne owned the castles of Brionne and Vernon, called validissima castra (very strong castles) by Guillaume de Poitiers. The early construction, a quadrangular dungeon, would go back to 1123 under Henri Beauclerc, son of William the Conqueror. This dungeon was later replaced by a round tower characteristic of the military buildings of Philippe Auguste, 22 metres high.

The tower fits into a pre-existing oval enclosure, adapted by royal engineers with straight courting and flanking towers. It re-uses older elements and belongs to the same architectural family as the dungeon of Château Bouuvreuil in Rouen. Its defensive role was complemented by the Château des Tourelles, located on the other bank of the Seine, illustrating a river and border control strategy.

Today owned by the municipality of Vernon, the Tower of Archives is located at 21 Potard Street, near the banks of the river. Its state of conservation and classification make it a remarkable example of Norman castral architecture of the early 13th century, linked to Capetian expansion in Normandy after 1204.

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