page_title: Pays de Caux
section_title: Manoirs and châteaux of the 15th and 16th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Pays de Caux / History / Manoirs and châteaux of the 15th and 16th centuries
caption_attribution_description: Description&#160;: Château d'Etelan, face ouest, en Normandie (76) Source&#160;: Photo Alain BOUDIER - Photo personnelle Auteur&#160;: Alain BOUDIER (Propriétaire du monument) Permission&#160;: Tous droits libres (mention du crédit obligatoire)
context_page_description: The Pays de Caux is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French département of Seine Maritime in Normandy. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs on the English Channel coast; its coastline is known as the Côte d'Albâtre. In the east, it borders on the Pays de Bray where the strata below the chalk show through.
  Cauchois is a notable dialect of the Norman language. The Pays de Caux is one of the remaining strongholds of the Norman language outside the Cotentin.
  The principal settlements are Le Havre, Dieppe, Fécamp, Yvetot and Étretat.
context_section_description: A manoir (manor house) is in principle, the residence of a seigniorial lord though, in practice, the term now includes country houses of the gentry. As a rule, they are not fortified. Since the Hundred Years' War, country houses have not had ramparts and towers. Artillery has rendered them obsolete. The peace and prosperity which were recovered following 1450, offered the option of reconstructing country houses and local materials such as flint and limestone were used. The owners could allow themselves to follow Renaissance style.
  Most Norman manoirs have a dovecote in the courtyard. A study by historians revealed 635 dove cotes in the three arrondissements of Dieppe, Le Havre and Rouen. Most are round and are permanent structures. The rarities are polygonal and timber-framed.
  A few to be noted are:
  Château d'Etelan, Saint-Maurice-d'Etelan, 1494
  Manoir de la Bouteillerie, Rouelles, Le Havre, 1531, dovecote of 1631
  Manoir Dubocage de Bléville, Dollemard, Le Havre, 1516
  Manoir d'Harquebosc, Harfleur-Beaulieu
  Manoir de Reauté, between Octeville and Montivilliers, takes its name from a family of the 16th century. Contemporary with Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England.
  Château d'Epremesnil, Epremesnil, 1596, dovecote (note that the fief of  Epremenil appears in the list of 1503 but the house, which was bombed in 1944 dates from the 19th century. (There must have been an earlier house and perhaps even a fief primitif (low Middle Ages) near the mill of Tauvais )
  Manoir du Grand Clos,  16th century.
  Manoir de Séntitot, Bévilliers, 1528: manoir in brick and stone, with Renaissance sculpture. The fief of Bevilliers was held by Louis de Richebourg and Jehanne Viennens. In 1624, a Protestant chapel (called in France a temple) was built behind the house.
  Manoir du Petit col Moulins, 16th century, dovecote.
  Manoir de Vitanval, Sainte-Addresse, early 15th century, with a 16th-century dovecote. It is a manoir of timber frame construction with a staircase in an external turret. In 1563, the constable de Montmorency stayed there.
  Manoir d'Estouteville, with loggias, built in the 15th century by Guillaume d'Estouteville, archbishop of Rouen in 1453.
caption: Chateau d'Etelan
exif: {}