Bricquebec-en-Cotentin > Petite Cité de Caractère

The town of Bricquebec stands out for its imposing medieval castle, once the seat of one of the most powerful baronies in the Cotentin region.

A market town, with markets, fairs and mills, has been attested to since the 12th century, and developed within the narrow confines of the castle, dominated by a high polygonal keep. The settlement was initially divided into several distinct areas, with the castral village itself nestling at the foot of the castle, the village quarter concentrated around the Notre-Dame parish church (now in ruins), and the hamlets of Le Foyer and L'Etang-Bertrand, where other characteristic facilities (sickbay, chapels, fisheries, tanneries, etc.) were also found.

This dense medieval heritage is still clearly visible in today's town. The town hall, rebuilt on the former covered market, stands in the shadow of the Tour de l'Horloge, next to the building that once housed the seigniorial prisons. From here, the settlement stretches unhindered towards the River Scye and beyond, to the edge of the wooded areas that close off the horizon. To the east of the château, the large Place Sainte-Anne, where weekly markets are held, is part of the former seigniorial park. In the 18th century, it was extended by a mall known as the "Promenade des Matignon", named after the last lords of the area.

The heart of the town is home to a large number of old mansions, many of which can be spotted by the pepperpots of the stair towers rising from their roofs at the rear. Bricquebec was one of the few towns in the Cotentin region to be spared the bombardments of the Liberation in June 1944, and has retained all the charm of a traditional Norman market town.

THE MUST-SEES
? The medieval listed castle
? Remains of the 12th-century church
? The new neo-Gothic church
? The village quarter and its old houses
? Manoir de la Tourelle (place des Buttes)
? The listed Renaissance Château des Galleries