Visit to the Medieval City

Memorial

1 Rue du Camp des Anglais, 53270 Sainte-Suzanne-et-Chammes, France

Your tour of Sainte-Suzanne begins at the bottom of rue Henri IV, near the War Memorial. Notice the two cannons used by the Germans to fire on Sainte-Suzanne during the Liberation battles in early August 1944. The current entrance to the city was cut through the ramparts in the XNUMXth century. Walk quietly up Rue Henri IV.

The Manor of Butte-Verte

The tourist office

Up the street, in the Butte-Verte manor house at the corner of Rue Jean de Bueil, you'll find the Sainte-Suzanne Les Coëvrons Tourist Office. Come visit us to pick up a map of the town and the Promenade des Moulins, and to get more information on the must-see places in Sainte-Suzanne.

The old town hall

Continue towards Place Hubert II de Beaumont. You can admire the old town hall that stands in the middle of it. This building, built in 1884, is now closed to the public after 133 years of loyal municipal service.

The hall

Further on, in the middle of the square, the cobblestones mark the location of the old market hall which also housed the Court of Justice, destroyed at the end of the 19th century to build the town hall.

Small alleys and the old manor

Turn right onto Rue de la Belle Etoile, then left onto Rue du Four. You can enjoy the view of the towers of the old manor and the castle.

The Castle and its dungeon

At the exit of rue du Four, admire the 11th century quadrangular dungeon, protected by round towers equipped with arrow slits (flour tower, powder tower, etc.). Access was formerly via the drawbridge, visible on the right. Enter the castle grounds. Visit the keep and the Renaissance building which houses the CIAP (Architecture and Heritage Interpretation Center), headquarters of the Coëvrons-Mayenne Country of Art and History.

The Church of Sainte-Suzanne

As you leave the château, turn right onto Rue Fouquet de la Varenne and return to the square. On the right, the church, remodeled in 1884, features a Renaissance portal. It houses several remarkable statues from the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th centuries including those of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Susanna, patron saint of engaged couples.

The Carterie Alley

As you leave the church, turn right; you will arrive in front of the old 1930th-century presbytery (private building and courtyard). The tall, stone-clad tower is an old water tower built in the XNUMXs and now disused. Continue along Carterie AlleyThe large window of the building at the corner of Grande Rue was intended to give light to the playing card maker, the neighborhood.

The Auditorium Museum

Created in 1973 by the association “Les Amis de Sainte-Suzanne”, the museum was designed, transformed and fitted out by village residents, volunteers, passionate and eager to share the rich history of the town. Today it is municipal. You will find in this museum a permanent exhibition which traces on almost 3 years of history of the medieval town of Sainte-Suzanne and the local area. Through 9 exhibition rooms, you can observe authentic objects, such as weapons dating from the Hundred Years' War, vitrified wall elements of the Celtic period, but also models and reconstructed scenes from the different periods that marked the history of Sainte-Suzanne.

Exceptional: in the museum you can admire the oldest armor in France, which dates from the beginning of the 15th century and was restored by the Musée des Invalides in Paris.

Viewpoint over the Coëvrons hills

Turn left after the Musée de l'Auditoire and take the small rue Jean de Bueil. Go up to the porch of the Manoir de la Butte-Verte (16th – 18th centuries). Pass under it and admire the landscape at the end of the Parc de la Butte-Verte, to the right after the town hall, with a clear view of the Coëvrons hills.

The ramparts and the west tower

Go back through the porch and turn right. Continue straight ahead toward Rue du Grenier à Sel between the restaurant and the soap factory. Just after the soap factory, turn right through Impasse John-Ferramen to the ramparts and climb the west tower to admire the view of the castle and the medieval city.

The salt attic

This former salt store dates back to 1725 and has retained its three-lock door. This has the particularity of only being able to open if the three locks are simultaneously unlocked. The three most important notables of the town, each holding a different key, had to be present to enter this building. All the inhabitants of Sainte-Suzanne and the 25 surrounding parishes were required to come and collect their salt supplies and had to pay a tax called the gabelleIn Sainte-Suzanne, the gabelle was a very high tax compared to other regions, such as Brittany, which was exempt. This tax was thus locally considered unfair, and salt smugglers, called "false salt makers," developed. The salt granary was looted by the population in 1790.

Watchtower

In the Middle Ages, the current entrance, known as the "walled gate," equipped with a drawbridge, was used to enter and exit the southern part of the medieval city. It was walled up and then destroyed after the French Revolution. Right next to it, the square-based Watchtower housed the Guard and watchmen. A sundial, now gone, later adorned its façade.

Promenade of the Poterne

Take the postern promenade and admire the view of the River Hamlet, below. In the Middle Ages, there were about twenty mills, spread over about 2 km along the Erve River. A wide variety of mills existed then: grain mills (wheat or barley), paper mills (the most numerous), fulling mills (for working woolen cloth), tan mills (crushing oak bark for use in tanneries), oil mills (crushing hemp seeds), or tobacco mills, which allowed for intense economic activity. Today, only the Grand Moulin, which makes paper using the methods used from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century, can be visited. The other mills were gradually destroyed, or rehabilitated as residential areas. Some owners have restored their wheels, which gives all its charm to the route of the mills promenade.

The iron gate

The Iron Gate at the time allowed people to enter or leave the fortress without crossing the drawbridge. In the event of an enemy attack, the villagers usually took refuge within the castle walls. In the event that the attackers managed to destroy the main entrance to the drawbridge and prevented the inhabitants from accessing the castle walls, the latter could escape through this Iron Gate as a last resort. Just to your left, notice that the wall has an acute angle which gives a triangular appearance to the castle fortifications. This is not a coincidence, because just opposite stands the promontory of Tertre GanneIn order to protect themselves from potential invaders, this triangular shape allowed the guards to see the entire valley from the tip of the fortifications and not be surprised.

The Iron Gate was designed so that the besieged would not have sufficient recoil to break down the gate with a battering ram.

The medieval garden

The medieval garden is located on the northern slopes of the Cité, between the Promenade de la Poterne and the Chemin de la Mule Blanche, which leads to the Grand-moulin. It was created in 2010 by the Médiéville53 association and is maintained by the Friends of Sainte-Suzanne. You can freely access it to admire the vegetables, flowers, and various aromatic plants used for centuries in cooking recipes.

The Path of the White Mule

After your visit to the medieval garden, go back up the white mule path. A local legend tells that an underground passage connected the Château to the Grand Moulin, and thata mule, covered in flour white, continually went back and forth, carrying on his back the precious powder needed to supply the soldiers installed in the fortress during the siege of Sainte-Suzanne by the English in the 11th century. The passage was never discovered, perhaps it collapsed, no one knows. One thing is certain: During the battle against the troops of William the Conqueror, he tried in vain to starve the medieval city for 3 years., before lifting the seat.

The Wicket Gate

In the Middle Ages, traffic in the city was very different from today. To enter this medieval city, you had to go through the Guichet Gate to the north, or through the old walled Gate to the south, which was destroyed during the Revolution. In front of this gate to the north of the city, stood a drawbridge defended by its tower. If you look closely, you can see a cannonball embedded in the wall, thus indicating that the City was taken by artillery.