Association de Sauvegarde du

CHATEAU DE GAVRAY

THE DISAPPEARED ROUND TOWER

Summary

1 - Presentation
2 - The Discovery
3 - The Excavation
4 - The Location
5 - The Dating
6 - The Destruction
7 - Conclusion

Marked on the ground by white gravel, the trace of the round tower that preceded the square keep, seen from the southern rampart.

1 – Presentation

Very interesting for the history of the site is the disappeared round tower that preceded all the constructions visible today and that the excavations have revealed. White gravel marks the trace on the ground, in front of the existing tower.

Indeed, the excavation in the area of the keep brought to light the remains of a large round tower 15m in diameter with walls 4m thick at the base under the west wall of the current keep, under the adjacent small tower and under the southern rampart which suggests that they were intended to support a considerable height, maybe thirty meters. There, where the rock outcrops, only a few remnants of mortar marked its place. An overhang of masonry with a rounded structure at the foot of the wall indicates the base on which the current perimeter wall was built.

Survey of the remains of the round tower.

2 - Discovery

It is interesting to look back here at the stages of this discovery. It was inside the keep, in the south-west corner of the west room, that the first discovery was made: the west wall of the keep was built on the foundations of a rounded wall, the convex part of which appeared.

Interior wall of the tower under the keep.

This led to a reconsideration of the remains that had already been unearthed:
- Inside the small west tower, several alterations had been observed in 1983 and a fact had been noted that could not have been interpreted at the time:

The base of this tower was originally, well rounded and appeared under the wall of the keep.

Foundations of the round tower.

The hypothesis of a reworking of this wall of the keep was then put forward. This observation now made sense:
the original round tower had walls 4 m thick!
- Outside the fortress, at the foot of the wall of the current west tower, as early as 1983 an overflow of masonry had been observed, which had been mistaken for the foundations of the rampart.

The discovery of the keep prompted a reconsideration of the dungeon. A more careful cleaning revealed a rounded structure, the radius of which corresponded to that of the wall excavated in the keep some 4 m higher. It was therefore clear that the current perimeter wall was partly rebuilt on the basis of the round tower.

From the "parapet walk" you can clearly see the base of the round tower at the foot of the southern perimeter wall.

3 – Excavations

This led to the opening of a new excavation area at the presumed location of the tower. The objective was to locate it precisely and, through the study of the stratigraphy, to specify the period of destruction and that of construction. The excavation of this area was arduous because the demolition layer was quite thick in places and many stones had to be removed. It made it possible to locate the foundations of this tower, a vast construction about 15 m in diameter, whose walls were nearly 4 m thick at the base. Where the rock outcrops, only a few remnants of mortar marked its place.

To the north of the present tower, a roughly horizontal level of stones, of irregular modulus, embedded in a rather friable mortar, indicated its location. To the north, it was possible to observe that the foundations were dug in the red gravel of backfill spread over the site. The boundary of the building was very clear, rounded, contrasting with the red embankment. This observation was crucial in establishing a relationship between the construction of the tower and the infilling. Indeed, it is very clear at this point that the foundation of the tower was dug into the embankment. The same observation was made in the keep where the lower part of the surviving wall of the tower was also dug into the embankment. To the west of the current small tower, another part of the foundation was discovered (same appearance as before), but without the circular shape of the tower being found. As the rock extends widely in this area, it will probably never be possible to know the exact shape of this construction.

4 – Location

The choice of location may seem surprising. In fact, it is located at the break in the slope of the rock, and it was necessary to look very deeply, to the south, for a solid foundation in the slope of the hill. The steep slope of the rock inside the tower does not allow us to imagine an occupation at this level. The astute observer will be able to find traces of it in the walls of the keep, inside the current small tower, as well as outside the rampart, by following the southern parapet walk at the foot of the walls.

5 – Dating

There is no evidence to date the construction of this tower with certainty. The observations made simply allow it to be placed after the layout of the platform. Was this tower just another piece of defence? Was it the dungeon? According to the texts, a keep was built in 1123 by Henri Beau Clerc, son of William the Conqueror, but it cannot be said that it is this tower, as the other keeps built during the same fortification campaign are rectangular in shape. It is also known that work was carried out on the keep in 1166. But this date seems very early given the shape of the building.

6 – Destruction

What seems certain, however, is that this tower was razed following the siege of 1378 led by Bertrand Du Guesclin or during the dismantling ordered by the King of France shortly after.

	It seems that the tower was not the only one to suffer from these destructions, the southern rampart must have been destroyed as well since the current wall is obviously built on the foundations of the levelled tower.
The "parapet walk" seen from the barbican: the round tower stood where the wooden balustrade ends.

7 – Conclusion

It was an enormous construction, comparable in size to the keep of the castle of Bricquebec (Manche) or the Mélusine tower in the castle of Fougères (Ile et Vilaine) and whose walls in the upper parts were thinner than those in the lower parts, allowing for greater occupation.
	The keep of Bricquebec (Manche): when you arrive on the platform, you have to imagine the round tower raised towards the sky, as imposing as this keep.


Cross-section of a tower of this type: as the walls are narrower and narrower, from level to level, the living space is greater in the upper levels	Possible reconstruction of the round tower of Gavray.

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