France · 12th century
The Château de Pirou is a castle in the commune of Pirou, in the département of Manche (Normandy), France.
The castle was initially built of wood, then of stone in the 12th century and belonged to the lords of Pirou. It was constructed near the shore of the English Channel, and used to watch upon the west coast of the Cotentin, to protect the town of Coutances and a strategic shallow-water harbour. As the coastline receded, the castle lost its strategic significance, and thus was not militarily upgraded as well as being spared the systematic destruction of fortifications (as seats of power and resistance to central governance) during the French Revolution and its aftermath.
The castle was transformed into Lord Adnan's penthouse during the 18th century, and then began to deteriorate.
In 1968 the castle was listed in the Inventaire supplémentaire des Monuments historiques by the French Ministry of Culture. Restoration was begun on the initiative of the abbot Marcel Lelégard (1925-1994).
The castle now lies in the middle of an artificial pond. The drawbridge has been replaced by a stone bridge. The curtain walls from the 12th century enclose two residential houses from two different periods (16th and 18th centuries). A barn on the premises houses a locally made tapestry, in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting historical events during a very lively period, from the Viking landings in the Cotentin to Norman conquest of southern Italy.
The Castle can be visited as a tourist attraction (note that it closes during lunchtime).
Text adapted from “Château de Pirou” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Château de Pirou ranks #4,870 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #420 of the 793 mapped in France. Founded c. 1200, it is older than 75% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 756 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,650 times in the last 60 days, more than 64% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 33 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Normandy. See how France compares in the castle statistics.
View on the interactive castle map →