The artillery terrace

  In the north-west corner of the castle enclosure lie a few remains of an artillery terrace created in the 16-17 th centuries which have become badly damaged over the years. The original slope reaching up to the height of the north rampart parapet walk, has gradually been eroded, converted by the military of the Lefebvre barracks and flattened in the sixties to build a plant room that was still operational not so long ago. This is an important element for the history of defensive techniques but is hard for the present-day castle visitor to decipher, especially as the presence of two cannon on display not far from the artillery terrace just adds to the confusion. These cannon have nothing to do with the castle or the artillery terrace , they come from Goree Island and were a gift to the city of Caen from the Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor.