The tale of coutance along its streets

Built on a height supporting the human establishment, the oldest archaeological vestiges attest existence of the agglomeration as of the ier century b.c.

Town hall and its surroundings  The Town Hall  moved into the De-Cussy Townhouse (12th and 13th centuries) in the 19th century. Its façade, overlooking the Cussy Courtyard, is built of Cambernon Stone, underlined by an 18th-century staircase with double banisters in wrought iron. The façade overlooking G. Leclerc Square was modified in the 19th century, receiving two superimposed galleries. In 1905 and 1907, the side of the building overlooking Cathedral Square was extended in the style of 17th-century French architecture.  Cathedral  Along with the "Marvel" of Mont-Saint-Michel, Coutances cathedral is a jewel of gothic art in Normandy. The current building was constructed at the beginning of the 13th century, re-using some of the remains dating from the 11th century. The guided tour recounts the periods of construction and also offers the chance of enjoying the exceptional views from the galleries high up in the lantern tower.  Tancrède Street,  the Delamare-de-Crux Townhouse, which is today home to a bank, possesses probably the most beautiful 18th-century façade of all Coutances. The granite frames of the windows-openings stand out from the white walls, with charming consoles under the window-sills and sculpted dormer windows. Next door, an amusing façade of false wooden beams from the early 20th century, its first floor decorated with grimacing faces. Nearby, the façade of a former butcher’s shop from the art-deco period.  The Great Seminary  was built between 1853 and 1868, on the site of the old Dominican Convent (13th C.). Monumental and forbidding, it was intended to receive 300 trainee priests.  In 1983, due to a lack of students, the Seminary was converted into a cultural centre, Les Unelles. The right-hand side of the building, overlooking Daniel Street, is home to the Diocesan Centre. On another side of the cloister is a neo-Gothic chapel dating from the last years of the 19th century.  Hélye House,  opposite Saint-Nicholas Church, was once home to a marker of church candles. It has an amusing 19th –century façade, flanked by two overhanging turrets.

Saint-nicolas church  The Tanquerey-de-la-Montbrière Townhouse (listed) was built in the 17th century and modified in the 18th. Its sober architecture is characteristic of the noble dwellings of the region during the Ancien Régime.  The Canonical Quarter lies between d’Harcourt Street and the Cathedral and was built for the canons (the bishop’s Council) who took care of the cathedral. No.7 Perthuis-Trouard Street is characteristic of the dwellings to be found in the area before the bombings of WWII and the town’s subsequent reconstruction. No.2 has retained its late-Gothic gate, embellished with decorative sculpted vine leaves.  The Chapel (listed) of the secondary school was built between 1652 and 1655 on the initiative of Saint Jean Eudes. First church in the world to be dedicated to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, it was originally the chapel of the Eudist Seminary founded to counteract a rising Protestantism. It triple-apse layout was well suited to large altarpieces, typical of the art of the Catholic Reformation.

The former hospital  The Former Hospital  (listed) was founded in 1209 by Bishop Hugues de Morville to shelter pilgrims and travellers and provide care and assistance to the poor. It was handed over to Augustine Monks in 1217. Later, they were helped by nuns, the Augustine Hospitallers, in order to provide better care to the sick. The 15th-century tower belonged to the former church of the Augustines and has a richly decorated stone spire, typical of the Flamboyant Gothic period (decorated pinnacles, fleurons, crockets). Opposite, the former Augustine Convent (18th and 19th centuries) is now the Hugues-de-Morville Complex. Further down town, the classical-style Augustines Chapel (1682-1689) is covered with an octagonal cupola and its street-side gate is flanked by four Ionic columns of Montmartin Marble.  The Pont-de-Soulles  developed along the river Soulles, the latter exploited by the district’s dominant industry, leather making, which prospered in Coutances until the end of the 19th century. The textile industry was also well represented in the area, as can be seen by the street named Teintures (dyes), which in the 1830s ran alongside a stream used for washing cloth. The characteristic shop front layout can still be seen on some of the old houses that lie on either side of the street.

Quesnel-morinière street  Quesnel-Morinière Street,  established in the 16th century, is in the aristocratic area of the town. This site was once the moated limit of the town. The beautiful and forbidding monumental porches of the townhouses overlook the street at the front and courtyards and gardens at the rear. At the corner of Quesnel-Morinière Street and Geoffroy-de-Monbray Street stands the Bonté Townhouse (late 18th century). Its façade has a large pediment and dormer windows covered by small projecting roofs. Townhouses Nos.44, 42, 40, 24, 18, 2 were built during the 17th to 19th centuries. The accolade, decorative motif of the Flamboyant Gothic period, decorates the lintels of certain houses in the area which perhaps indicates that these dwellings were built prior to the 17th century (Nos. 10 and 2).  The Quesnel-Morinière Museum  was created in 1874 in the former Le-Poupinel Townhouse. The latter was built in the 17th and 18th centuries and its courtyard opens out on to the Town Gardens. This townhouse was bequeathed to the town in 1850 by the owner, Jean-Jacque Quesnel de la Morinière. The Museum’s collection is a varied mixture of paintings, sculpture and ethnography.  The Town Gardens  Created between 1852 and 1855, the public gardens are amongst the oldest in Normandy; They offer a harmonious marriage of French symmetry, English coppicing and Italian terracing, a place which encourages strolling and daydreaming.

The piliers  The Piliers  is an area of the town which owes its name to the French word piles (piers which support the spans of the aqueduct). Up to the 19th century, this district was very industrial, devoted to textiles and leather working. Among the old houses of the street, some show that they once belonged to weavers, with small first-floor lodgings and a staircase leading up to a raised ground floor under which was housed the weaving loom.  The Aqueduct  was originally 240 metres long and comprised 16 arches, of which only three remain. Built in 1252 by Foulques Paynel, town governor, it was partially destroyed by the Huguenots in the 16th century, and then rebuilt by the Dominicans in 1595. The aqueduct channelled water from it source at Ecoulanderie to the town fountains. Abandoned in the 18th century, it gradually fell into ruin in the 19th.

Coutance, ville d'art et d'histoire  Coutances and the Country of Coutances belongs to the national network of the Cities and Pays of art and history. The Ministry for the Culture and the Communication, direction of Architecture and the Inheritance, allots Villes name and Country of art and history to the local communities which animate their inheritance. It guarantees competences of the guide-lecturers and the organizers of the inheritance and the quality of their actions. Ancient vestiges with the architecture of the XXe century, the cities and country put in scene the inheritance in its diversity. Today, a network of cities and country offer to you his know-how in all France.