Granville

The English fortified this headland in 1439 during the Hundred Years War as a base to attack Mont-Saint-Michel, and the French took it by ruse in 1442; the Haute Ville still sits behind those walls in grey granite above the harbour. Christian Dior grew up in Villa Les Rhumbs on the cliff, a pink and grey house with a garden his mother laid out overlooking the sea, and he credited it repeatedly as the source of his colour sense and his flower motifs; it is now the Dior museum with an annual themed exhibition. The tidal range here is among the largest in Europe, and the port dries out completely at low water.

History

A legend of Mont Saint-Michel Bay says that Granville and the Chausey islands were once covered by the forest of Scissy, sunk in 709. In 1066 William the Conqueror rewarded the local Grant family with the land of the Roque de Lihou, making them the first lords after the Vikings, and the parish of Notre-Dame was founded in 1143. On 26 October 1439 the English seneschal of Normandy, Sir Thomas de Scales, bought the rock and, to isolate Mont Saint-Michel, began walling the town and building a fortress in 1440, with a ditch that made the peninsula an island; on 8 November 1442 Louis d'Estouteville took it by ruse, and Charles VII made it a fortified town with a charter of 1445. Its ships were fishing off Newfoundland from 1450, Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 settled here, and as a privateering port from the reign of Louis XIV Granville gave France fifteen admirals; Louis XIV appointed its first mayor in 1692 (Wikipedia, Granville, Manche).

What's there

• The Haute Ville - the walled granite upper town on the headland.
• Villa Les Rhumbs - Dior's childhood house and cliff garden, now a museum.
• The extreme tides - the harbour emptying completely at low water.
• The Carnival - one of the largest in Normandy, held before Lent.

When to go

April to October; the Dior museum opens seasonally, roughly spring to autumn, with a new exhibition each year. Carnival falls in February and fills the town.

Good to know

The Dior museum closes for winter and between exhibitions. The upper and lower towns are separated by a steep climb. Granville is a working port rather than a resort.

Nearby

Mont-Saint-Michel lies south; the Iles Chausey are offshore.

Key facts