Fort de La Prée

La Flotte, France

Fort de La Prée, built in 1625, is located near the eastern end of the Île de Ré. It was built by Royalist Army after they conquered the are from Huguenots during the Wars of Religion. They used materials salvaged from the remains of the Romanesque abbey of the Châteliers'.

The Duke of Buckingham ignored Fort de La Prée during his three-month siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré in 1627. This neglect turned out to be a strategic error. Toiras managed to land troops there, and from there force the English to give up their siege and withdraw in defeat.

The fort subsequently underwent modifications under the oversight of several engineers: François Blondel (1664), Louis-Nicolas de Clerville (1672), Le Favolière, and finally Sainte-Colombe (1676). They added the gate, a barracks for 200 soldiers outside the walls, and some other outside works.

In 1685, Vauban, the preeminent engineer of the time, had François Ferr raze parts of the original fort, particularly the keep and the outworks that enclosed the entire fort.

The fort was later abandoned before being re-established in 1793. During the latter part of the 19th century, the external barracks were demolished. In 1875, the fort's covered way had sheltered passages added. The fort was decommissioned circa 1900.

During World War II the Germans occupied the fort. They added some blockhouses in the ramparts and on the seafront. From 1948, the fort became the administrative block for a development of vacations homes, but was closed in 1977.

References:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 1625
Category: Castles and fortifications in France

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.3/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Sergio Craig (15 months ago)
Nice! Easy parking and very fair price. Was a bit smaller then i thought. Nice option is the escape room.
Cestrian Cef (16 months ago)
Free parking at the site with no height restriction. Excellent value for money at €6. We were provided with an English information card but this only gave you a brief timeline of the Fort. There was so much information on posters around the Fort but only in French. I would have loved to have understood more of the history. Should have payed more attention at school! Thoroughly recommend.
Kevin Seegaren Vydelingum (16 months ago)
Great history. Worth a visit.
DD R (17 months ago)
A must see if u visit Isle de Re !
Cátia Brinca (2 years ago)
The place needs some investment, some of the signs are unreadable because of the sun, which is a shame since my attraction to historic places is to learn about it. Plan ahead with enough time to visit, it will take a while to see and read everything if you are like me and you want to learn/see it all, I would recommend at least 2h.
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Abbey of Saint-Georges

Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.

The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).