Les Tourailles

Les Tourailles is a commune in the Orne département and the region of Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Athis-Val-de-Rouvre. The former commune is part of the area known as Suisse Normande.

Geography

 * Watercourses: The river Rouvre.

History

 * Notre-Dame de la Recouvrance chapel, departure point for pilgrimages since the 9th century.

Sites and monuments

 * Basilica of the Notre-Dame de la Recouvrance chapel, completed in 1939.
 * 16th-century castle keep, a good ensemble with two pavilions.
 * Bridge of Tourailles, the remains of a Roman bridge.
 * Pilgrimages on 8 September and 31 May.

People associated with Les Tourailles

 * Antoine de Montchrestien (born Falaise, Calvados 1570, died Les Tourailles 1621). Poet and author. Known by the name of 'Vatteville'. He tried to revive the religious wars of the sixteenth century but was killed when making a traveller's stop in Les Tourailles.