Fougères: One of France's Most Imposing Fortresses, the Oldest Belfry in Brittany and the Public Garden
Brittany, France
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225
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1 day
Fougères: One of France's Most Imposing Fortresses, the Oldest Belfry in Brittany and the Public Garden
225 + 100 XP
The château of Fougères is one of the most imposing fortresses in France: two hectares of medieval building raised over four hundred years from the 12th century to the 15th, behind three separate enceintes — the Avancée against the walled town, the crescent-shaped bailey and the high court or Réduit at the top. In the upper town the belfry is the oldest surviving in Brittany, its square base probably of 1397, its octagonal stage added between 1492 and 1508, and its great bell inscribed L'an mil ccc IIIIx et VIII me firent fere les bourgeys de Foulgères et me nomma Rolland Chapelle. The terraced public garden beside the church of Saint-Léonard looks down over the castle and the old quarter in the valley of the Nançon.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk all three enceintes of the château and date the towers by their shape: the earliest are square, the later ones round, and the horseshoe towers were built against the bases of others to give the crossbowmen room to swing. Then look at the stone itself — dressed granite for the corners, local schist rubble for the walls
2
of 4
At the corner of the place Jean-Guéhenno, stand under the belfry the cloth merchants of Fougères built to face down the church and the castle, then walk to where you can see it against the steeple of Saint-Léonard and judge which is taller — the church won that race by a few metres and the burghers never caught up
3
of 4
From the public garden beside Saint-Léonard, pick out the tour Mélusine among the towers below and check Hugo's description of it against what you see: a high broad tower of six storeys with a few loopholes and one iron door onto a bridge. Balzac walked the same ground in October 1828 and turned it into Les Chouans the following year
4
of 4
Find the five standards flying behind the ramparts and name the families they belong to in order from the left, seen from outside: Plesguen, la Haye Saint-Hilaire, Lusignan, Guibé and Pommereul, five of the houses that held or governed this castle
Walk all three enceintes of the château and date the towers by their shape: the earliest are square, the later ones round, and the horseshoe towers were built against the bases of others to give the crossbowmen room to swing. Then look at the stone itself — dressed granite for the corners, local schist rubble for the walls
At the corner of the place Jean-Guéhenno, stand under the belfry the cloth merchants of Fougères built to face down the church and the castle, then walk to where you can see it against the steeple of Saint-Léonard and judge which is taller — the church won that race by a few metres and the burghers never caught up
From the public garden beside Saint-Léonard, pick out the tour Mélusine among the towers below and check Hugo's description of it against what you see: a high broad tower of six storeys with a few loopholes and one iron door onto a bridge. Balzac walked the same ground in October 1828 and turned it into Les Chouans the following year
Find the five standards flying behind the ramparts and name the families they belong to in order from the left, seen from outside: Plesguen, la Haye Saint-Hilaire, Lusignan, Guibé and Pommereul, five of the houses that held or governed this castle
Before you go
The château closes for its annual overhaul from 5 January to 2 February and never opens on a Monday outside June to September. From October to April it shuts for two hours at midday and closes at 5.30pm, with the ticket desk going well before that — so a winter visit is a morning or an early afternoon, not a late one. The belfry and the terraced garden by Saint-Léonard are free and open whenever you come, and the garden is the place to stand for the view down onto the walls if the castle itself is shut.
The château is a paid site with a rampart walk; work has been done to make parts of it accessible to visitors with reduced mobility, and the west curtain gives the view over the upper town. The belfry's upper stages are not generally open, so it is seen from the street. The old town lies in the Nançon valley below the upper town, so any circuit of Fougères on foot means climbing back up; there is parking below the castle rather than in the walled town.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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