The gates

   The original north entrance, protected by a tower-gate, disappeared in c. 1220 with the construction of the keep curtain wall. On the south side, the Porte Saint-Pierre gate was originally no more than a postern opening out onto the town. It became the main gate during the 13th century. On the east side, the imposing Porte des Champs (gate of the fields) was probably built at the time when the northern gate disappeared. With a drawbridge and preceded by a fore-front from the outset, it is an extra addition to the fort’s defences.

The Porte des Champs
or Porte de Secours (emergency gate), lithograph by Benoist, c. 1850.
Source : Musée de Normandie

The towers

   Eleven rectangular and two round towers punctuate the castle wall. They have all been rebuilt a number of times. "Queen Mathilda's Tower" on the south-east corner of the castle, with its rib vaults on two floors, and still dominating the Vaugueux quarter of the town, is early 13th century in its older parts. Three rectangular towers straddle the walls, the upper floor of each connecting with the covered way as was the practice in the 12th century, but they have since been rebuilt. The other eight towers that flank the walls were built onto the outside wall, in the 13th and 14th centuries. Originally all the towers were roofed. The widely spread out and irregular positioning of the towers, brought about because of the original residential nature of the castle, reduced the efficiency of flanking fire along the walls.

The Tour Puchot

The Tour Puchot marked
on the map of Caen in 1585
Source : Musée de Normandie

   Positioned on the north-west corner of the castle walls, it used to protect the Vilaine gateway that led into the Rue de Geôle, one of the thoroughfares to the Bourg-le-Roi. The tower and gateway were connected by the city wall so the defenders in the Puchot Tower controlled access to the fortified town. As with Queen Mathilda's Tower, the other round tower in the curtain wall, the Puchot's Tower may well have been built at the beginning of the 13th century when King Philippe Auguste had the castle strengthened. Major restoration work has been undertaken since 1945.

View on a postcard c. 1910 Source : Musée de Normandie

The Tour de la Reine Mathilde

The Tour de la Reine Mathilde marked
on the map of Caen in 1585
Source : Musée de Normandie

   The two-storey round tower was built to reinforce the south-east corner of the curtain wall as part of King Philippe Auguste's strengthening of the castle after the surrender of Normandy to the French crown in 1204. As with so many buildings with a military function, it was rebuilt several times, notably during the English occupation in the first half of the 15th century.
The city wall of the Bourg-le Roi (the King's Borough) the present historic town centre joined the castle walls close to where the tower rises.

 

View on a postcard c. 1900 Source : Musée de Normandie