motte du Plessis-Lastelle: Medieval Castle Mound and Fortified Site
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- France
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page11 sections
History
The motte du Plessis-Lastelle in France is the surviving earthwork and stone remnant of a medieval fortified castle, whose earliest form was an earth-and-timber stronghold associated with the Norman baron Grimoult du Plessis in the eleventh century. The site belonged to one of the principal Norman barons who conspired against the young Duke William II in 1046. William, later known as William the Conqueror, became king of England in 1066.
Grimoult du Plessis and the Norman rebellion
In 1047, Grimoult commanded part of the rebel army at the Battle of Val-es-Dunes, where Duke William defeated the insurgents. Grimoult escaped from the battlefield but was later captured by the duke’s men and imprisoned at Rouen. He died in captivity, probably in unnatural circumstances. The twelfth-century writer Wace described in the Roman de Rou how Grimoult was found dead in his cell and buried in his chains.
Before 1047, the Plessis honor was a large feudal lordship covering about 10,600 hectares in one continuous block. It was centered on the present commune of Plessis-Grimoult in Calvados. That lordship should not be connected with Plessis-Lastelle beyond the similarity of their names.
Stone fortification and later ownership
During the twelfth century, the castle’s timber structures were probably replaced by a cylindrical stone keep. The surviving tower belongs to the Plantagenet period, when the Plantagenets ruled territories in both France and England. In 1195, Philip Augustus granted the district administered from Plessis castle to Richard de Vernon in exchange for his castle. The property later passed to the Coigny family through a grant made by Louis XIV. The castle formed part of the fief of La Haye.
Religious reuse and twentieth-century damage
At the end of the nineteenth century, a calvary was installed on the mound, and a grotto representing Christ’s tomb was excavated into its side. A Way of the Cross inaugurated in 1911 was destroyed in 1944. Local inhabitants reconstructed it in 1967, adding a later religious layer to the medieval earthwork.
Remains
Earthwork and castle enclosure
The motte and bailey
The circular motte stands on the edge of a plateau at Le Moulin, about 300 metres southeast of the Church of Saint John the Baptist. It lies between the road from Périers to Valognes and the Gorges marshes, near an ancient route across the marshes that connected the Gallo-Roman towns of Alauna, identified with Alleaume, and Cosedia, identified with Coutances.
A deep ditch separates the mound from the plateau. The earthwork forms a substantial truncated cone, rising approximately 15 to 20 metres and measuring about 35 metres across at the summit. A bailey, the adjoining enclosed area used for buildings and activities supporting the fortification, remains clearly discernible in the cadastral layout. The bases of the former castle walls are also visible.
Western enclosure
The western side, which provided the most accessible approach, was formerly protected by a double enclosure. Earthmoving work revealed a dry-built enclosure, meaning stonework laid without mortar, with an irregular octagonal plan. Its sides measure approximately 4.30 to 8 metres and slope slightly outward at the base, a construction feature known as an outward batter. Four semicircular buttresses reinforce the enclosure at alternate corners, each measuring about 4 to 5 metres in diameter. The enclosure borders a platform paved with flat stones.
Stone keep and later features
The cylindrical keep
A broad section of the former circular keep survives on the summit. Built during the Plantagenet period, the tower had an approximate diameter of 11.50 metres and was constructed within the older enclosure after that enclosure had been levelled to ground level. The tower was destroyed with mines and explosives. Its surviving remains have since been adapted as a lookout with a 360-degree panorama.
Cross, grotto, and commemorative plaque
A cross now stands above the keep remains. The motte also contains the grotto representing Christ’s tomb, excavated into the side of the mound in the late nineteenth century. A plaque on the site recounts the history of Baron Grimoult, linking the surviving monument with the political conflict that shaped its early history.
