16. Notre-Dame de Gravenchon to Saint-Wandille-Rançon

The parish church of Notre-Dame was originally a chapel attached to the parish church of Saint-Georges de Gravenchon. It was built in the 12th century. It was three ships long, but the side aisles were destroyed. The spire of the tower was built in the 17th century. In the first quarter of the 19th century the choir was rebuilt, keeping the original gable. The sacristy was built from 1851 to 1852. The south aisle was erected in 1899 by Constant Martin.

The castle of Villequier (17th century) with its chapel, its 18.82 hectare listed park and a panorama 35 kilometres away is situated on the heights of Villequier. The present pink brick and stone residence was completed in 1784 on the initiative of Jean-François Jacques Asselin on the former fiefdom of Beaumesnil. The name Beaumesnil was brought from the land of Ouche by Robert d'Harcourt who married Jeanne de Villequier in the 13th century.
This great lord, who was a little later at the head of the Parisian National Guard, created a superb gardener's ensemble. After several changes of ownership during the first half of the twentieth century, the castle was to revive in 1974 under the leadership of Maurice Lalonde, Caudebec-en-Caux with the transformation of the estate into a residential hotel.
Until 2007, the Château de Villequier remained a hotel and a renowned venue for private and professional receptions in Normandy.

Built in 1627, Charles Marie de Villequier acquired the estate in 1638. In 1685, the manor house was transformed into a farm. In 1850, Léon Malfilatre, the future Mayor of Villequier, bought it along with the wood from La Roquette. He notably built a hunting lodge and a path to the Seine. Around 1875, the hunting lodge was enlarged and became the current castle of La Guerche in Anglo-Norman style. During the Second World War, V1 ramps were installed by the Germans, who occupied the estate, on a promontory not far from the castle.

Planted in the 19th century, the "Barre-Y-Va" beech grove is a sort of "plant canopy", where two hundred trees stand on either side of the roadway for about 500 metres. It was classified in 1937 as a natural site and monument. This old road in Rouen, which was once very busy, was also voted "most beautiful kilometre in France" in 1957 by the Automobile Club de France.

Historians agree that the Logium Monastery is located in the town of Caudebec-en-Caux.
The monastery was built in the mid-7th century at the time of King Dagobert. It is part of a vast monastic movement in the lower Seine valley up to its estuary. During the 7th and 8th centuries, the monks followed the rule of the good fathers Benedict and Colomban spread in Gaul by their brothers of Luxeuil. An ancient plan of the town shows a layout of three churches, Saint-Martin to the north, Saint-Pierre to the south and Notre-Dame halfway between the two buildings. A layout present in Luxeuil during the presence of Colomban and his companions.
The church of Notre-Dame de Caudebec-en-Caux, built on the site of an older church, is the main church of the town of Caudebec-en-Caux.
 King Henri IV is said to have said that it was one of the most beautiful churches in France: "It is the most beautiful chapel in my kingdom". Indeed, this manifesto of the flamboyant Gothic and early Renaissance style does not include a transept, in the same way as Saint-Maclou de Rouen, contemporary of this church, and which perhaps justifies the royal description of "chapel".
Its west portal is finely sculpted and decorated with a whole host of sculptures (originally 333) representing saints, but also characters from everyday life at the time, including a loure player, which is one of the rare representations of this lost musical instrument.
Unfortunately, everything was mutilated by the Calvinists during the Wars of Religion and the fires set by the bombings of June 1940 condemned the rich historical heritage of Caudebec-en-Caux.

From the 12th century, a civil house made of local stone has come down to us, in a village in the Pays de Caux, once made up of half-timbered houses, as was common in this region at that time, which contrasts somewhat. The house of the Templars in Caudebec-en-Caux has always been a singular house since its foundation, a rare civil building of this style with ogival windows and gargoyles.
It is therefore a remarkable witness to History, not only by itself, by its architectural quality; still standing despite its great age (more than 800 years old!), but also by what it contains today: a local museum exceptional in its diversity, a showcase of local life since its origins.

The Latham Company was an aircraft construction company founded in 1916 by Jean Latham, cousin of Hubert Latham, in Caudebec-en-Caux, on the banks of the Seine. It built seaplanes for the French Navy. Hubert Latham (Arthur Charles Hubert Latham) is a pioneer of aviation, holding a pilot's licence in 1909.
In 1927 the factory is in liquidation, Félix Amiot, aircraft manufacturer in Cherbourg, buys the Latham factory in Caudebec-en-Caux. In 1928, a drama made the "Natham 47" plane famous. The Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, in search of a seaplane to go to the rescue of Umberto Nobile's expedition in perdition on the ice pack in the north of Norway. The new Latham 47 seaplane has just left the Caudebec factory. It is sent on the ice pack to search for the shipwrecked. The plane disappears with its crew and explorer Roald Amundsen.
The memorial commemorates the tragedy of Latham 47.

The monastery was founded by Saint Wandrille, count of the palace of Dagobert, who acquired from Erchinoald mayor of the palace of Clovis II, the domain of Fontenelle by a deed passed on 1 May 649. Since its foundation the monastery has known important moments in its history which will give its reputation to the political, cultural and spiritual worlds of that time.
It is part of a vast monastic movement in the lower Seine valley as far as its estuary. During the 7th and 8th centuries, the monks followed the rule of the good fathers Benedict and Colomban spread in Gaul by their brothers of Luxeuil. This monastic prosperity was encouraged by the Frankish aristocracy who entrusted the education of their children to monks who hoped to make them faithful servants of God.
In 858 the monastery was plundered and devastated by the Normans; the monks fled with the relics to the north to the abbey of Saint-Pierre-au-Mont-Blandin in Ghent (Belgium). The monks returned to the bank of the brook, the Fontenelle, around 960. A new abbey was rebuilt downstream of the Fontenelle. In 1562 the monastery was sacked by Huguenot troops. The community adopts the reform of the congregation of Saint-Maur in 1636. The Revolution expels the monks, the buildings are sold to set up workshops for part, while a stone quarry destroys the remaining buildings. During the 19th century the whole complex suffered the ravages of time, in 1894 a community restored monastic life, but the law of 1901 forbidding religious congregations closed the abbey. It was the aircraft manufacturer Latham who bought the buildings to give them to the community in exile in 1931. Since that date a Benedictine community has been running this famous abbey.