Pirou is not short of unusual! A ghost village, a whelk festival of which the village is the capital ... and a medieval castle which is the oldest in Normandy!
A very old castle that has often been rebuilt...
The castle of Pirou is one of the oldest castles in Normandy, and one of the best preserved of its generation!
It dates back (about!) to the 12th century, and probably much earlier, since it was built on a Viking site.
It thus lived through many wars, and in particular the 100 years war, which gave rise to many sieges. This also resulted in a great deal of damage. And, as a result, it was restored over time, in the 15th century, in the 17th century, in the 18th century ...
And then he fell asleep a little bit, and even ended up in a farmhouse state. It's useful, of course, but it may not be very glorious when you've, like him, made history...
And then, from 1966, under the vigorous impetus of Abbé Lelégard, it was remarkably restored, and in 1968 it was included in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments.
Remarkable architecture
We're on the plain. So, when you can't build your castle on top of a hill, or on the edge of a cliff, then you create an artificial island with a moat filled with water all around. That's what's been done.
In addition, the general topography is a very beautiful example of a very remarkable military architecture.
Indeed, to access the castle, you have to pass through five fortified gates, and this by turning around the central moat. In short, there is plenty of time to get caught up in all the nice little things that the besieged can throw at you.
The geese: you read right side up, you read upside down ...
This great difficulty in reaching the castle led the enemies to practice sieges instead. The tactic is extremely simple: we block everything and wait for the besieged to surrender.
This is undoubtedly what gave birth to the famous legend of the geese... this very unusual legend explains many things about geese.
It's the time of the Scandinavian invasions, and, of course, there's a siege. The lord of Pirou, his family, and a few men-at-arms are trapped.
Time passes... and so much time passes that the besiegers, intrigued by the fact that they hear nothing inside the enclosure, cautiously venture inside. All they find is an old grigou abandoned there who explains to them that everyone has flown away.
Indeed, the besieged are said to have read the magic formulas written in an old grimoire. And, transformed into geese, they would have flown away purely and simply.
Of course, in their little goose-heads, they had planned to come back to read the famous formula upside down (as recommended in the instructions, of course!), and thus regain their original appearance. Yes, but... bad luck... the Normans, not happy at all, had set the fire and everything had burned, including the grimoire!
As a result, every year, in March, wild geese return to the Cotentin region... they always hope to find the grimoire !
Castle of Pirou
50770 Pirou
Tel: 02 33 46 34 71
Abbey of Overseas Lucerne Foundation
B.P.12
50320 La Lucerne-d'Outremer
Tel: 02 33 48 83 56
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Click on the image
