Alencon Castle

Alencon Castle - Château des Ducs d'Alençon, Alencon, Orne, Normandy, French Republic.

The original castle of Alençon, built by the town’s first two lords—Yves de Bellême and his son William I—has not survived to the present day. It was completely destroyed following a siege by William the Conqueror, King of England, around 1050.
In 1113, Henry I Beauclerc—King of England, Duke of Normandy, and the third son of William the Conqueror—captured Alençon once again. During this period, a keep (donjon) was constructed; it was later incorporated into a second castle, built by Pierre II, Count of Alençon, between 1361 and 1404.
In 1592, the castle of Alençon, along with several other fortresses, was demolished by the order of Henry IV, who viewed such strongholds as symbols of the independent power of local lords and a source of fragmentation within the kingdom. Only the keep and an entrance pavilion remained; however, the keep was also destroyed in 1782. The only surviving element of the castle of the Dukes of Alençon is the entrance portal, which remains standing today.
In 1804, it was decided that the site would house a prison, a move that necessitated extensive construction work to adapt the building and its surroundings for this new purpose. The prison was relocated elsewhere in 2010.
The castle has been designated a historical monument since 1862.