Architecture of Normandy

See also the Romanesque architecture erected by the Normans at Norman architecture.

The architecture of Normandy spans a thousand years.

Vernacular domestic styles

In Haute-Normandie and in pays d'Auge, Mortainais, Passais and Avranchin (Basse-Normandie),Jean-Louis Boithias et Corinne Mondin La maison rurale en Basse-Normandie, éditions Créer, 63 340 Nonette. p. 15. the vernacular domestic architecture is typically half-timbered and thatched.



The half-timbered farmhouses scattered across the countryside are inherited of an older tradition that finds its root in the Celtic farms, whose remains were excavated by the archeologists. A particular style of farm enclosure clos masure or cour-masure has developed in the Pays de Caux as a result of the harsher landscape of that area and a local tradition, that has been influenced by the English and Danish design.

Brick and flintstone are later used to build or to rebuild a part of the cottages and official monuments (town halls, etc.). Villages of the pays de Caux and pays de Bray were entirely rebuilt this way.



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

Urban vernacular style...
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