Architecture of Normandy

The architecture of Normandy spans a thousand years.

In Upper Normandy and in the pays d'Auge, Mortainais, Passais and Avranchin (Lower Normandy), the vernacular domestic architecture is typically half-timbered and thatched.

The half-timbered farmhouses scattered across the countryside are inherited from an older tradition that has its roots in the Celtic farms, the remains of which have been excavated by archeologists. A particular style of farmstead called clos masure or cour-masure developed in the Pays de Caux as a result of the harsher landscape of that area and local tradition, which has been influenced by English and Danish styles.

Brick and flintstone were later used to build or rebuild some of the cottages and public buildings, such as town halls. Some villages of the pays de Caux and the pays de Bray were entirely rebuilt this way.

The other parts of Lower Normandy, especially the Cotentin Peninsula, tends to use granite as the predominant local building material. The Channel Islands also share this influence - Chausey was for many years a source of quarried granite, including stone for the construction of Mont Saint-Michel. The Caen plain and the area of Bessin use the traditional unusually hard limestone, called Caen stone.

Like almost everywhere in France, the oldest houses in the main cities are half-timbered, but there are more widespread in Haute-Normandie and there are more recent examples.

Unfortunately the urban architectural heritage of mainland Normandy was badly damaged during the Battle of Normandy in 1944. Many historic urban centres were destroyed, notably in Caen, Rouen, Lisieux and perhaps most tragically in Valognes, once known as the Versailles of Normandy for its aristocratic mansions and palaces. Massive post-war urban reconstruction in 1950s and 1960s, such as in Le Havre and Saint-Lô, has left modernist interventions.

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