Archives Tower

The Archives Tower, locally known as Tour des Archives, lies in the center of the city of Vernon, in the Eure department in France.

The Archives Tower is actually the keep of the former Vernon Castle. Vernon Castle was built by King Henry I of England, the son of William the Conqueror, in 1123. The keep is 22 meters high and a rare existing example of a round keep in Normandy, like the so-called Joan of Arc Tower of the former Rouen Castle.

In 1196 the town and castle were taken by King Philip II of France from the English. He rebuilt the castle, which formed a defensive system against English forces, together with the bridge over the river Seine and Tourelles Castle on the other side of the Seine.

This is all I was able to find about the history of Vernon Castle. If you know more, please mail me.

The keep got its present name because in the 18th century it was used to store the municipal archives. The former site of Vernon Castle is now largely covered with a modern cultural center. What remains is the keep, part of the castle wall with a corner tower and a freestanding base of another corner tower. The interior of the keep itself can not be visited. From the remaining wall you can only see the inner facade. There are houses built in front of the outer facade, so that side can not be seen. Unless you can get invited into someone's back garden ;-) This is a great tower and I am very curious about its interior.

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