Église Notre-Dame · Photo: ChBougui · CC BY-SA 4.013 historic monuments, 3 classé
For every 10,000 residents Granville counts 10 monuments, more per resident than 86% of compared French towns, against 2.5 in the median compared French town. Part of the town is a protected historic area, a site patrimonial remarquable. The oldest monuments in Granville date from the 14th century. We have photos of 12 of Granville’s monuments.
median compared town 2.5
Granville in 12 photos
Nearly every classé monument, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Enceinte de la Haute-VilleClassé
Château de GrainvilleClassé
Corps de garde de la JetéeInscrit
Corps de garde de Saint-PairInscrit
Casernes du RocInscrit+7See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.
Where Granville’s monuments stand
Every monument with a point on the ministry’s list; the larger, darker dots are classé.
Tap a dot to open the monument’s page: its record, photo and the monuments around it.
Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point.
3 classé monuments in Granville
Classé is France’s highest protection for a building, held by about a third of the monuments on the list. 2 of the 3 are protected in part only (a façade, a roof, a room). Each card opens the monument’s page.
Classé
Classé
Classé10 inscrit monuments in Granville
Inscrit is the second level of protection: the building is worth keeping, and any work on it must be declared.
Inscrit
Inscrit
Inscrit
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InscritMilitary buildings are the largest group in Granville
Each monument under the main domain Mérimée gives it.
Military & fortified: 5 of 13 monuments (38%). 1 is a religious building, 1 of them classé.
Mérimée files each monument under one main domain: a château with its chapel counts once. 1 has no domain on the list.
How old Granville’s monuments are
Each monument once, by the oldest part the list dates.
2 of 13 dated monuments have parts from before 1500. The oldest dated: Église Notre-Dame (14th–18th c.).
Granville has 3 protected historic areas
Sites patrimoniaux remarquables on the Culture ministry’s list, with the plan in force.
| Area | Created as | Plan in force |
|---|---|---|
| Not numbered yet | – | – |
| SPR28-16 | ZPPAUP May 23, 1997 | Still being drawn up |
| SPR28-17 | ZPPAUP December 22, 1986 | Still being drawn up |
A site patrimonial remarquable protects a whole area rather than one building: inside it, building work follows the area’s own plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
The list gives no boundaries, so the map can’t show the area.
4 of Granville’s monuments were protected in 1987
Monuments by the year they were first protected.
First protected, in 1930: Église Notre-Dame. 4 were protected in 1987 alone. None has been added since 2011.
12% of homes in Granville were built before 1919
Main homes by when they were finished, beside the median compared French town (the tick).
12% of its main homes were built before 1919; the median compared French town has 7.4%. More of them were finished between 1971 and 1990 than in any other period (27%).
INSEE, census 2023: main homes (résidences principales) only; second homes and empty homes aren’t dated.
28 people born in Granville before 1900
The 20 best known on the line, and eight of them below.
Everyone born in Granville Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.
Granville has the 6th most monuments of 41 towns its size
Compared French towns of 12,200 to 12,800 residents, by historic monuments.
The median town of these has 2. 8 of the 41 have none.
Historic monuments in the towns around Granville
| Town | Residents | Monuments | Classé | Protected area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granville | 12,510 | 13 | 3 | Yes |
| Donville-les-Bains | 3,146 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Saint-Pair-sur-Mer | 4,507 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Bréhal | 3,487 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Sartilly-Baie-Bocage | 2,778 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Quettreville-sur-Sienne | 3,167 | 3 | 0 | — |
| Agon-Coutainville | 3,020 | 1 | 0 | — |
Granville in brief
Old houses are part of Granville’s character: 12% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town. In all there are 13 historic monuments, 3 of them classé, including Église Notre-Dame. Per resident, it has more historic monuments than 86% of compared French towns. Only 5 of the 41 towns nearest its size have more historic monuments.
Parts of it lie in 3 sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Of the 28 people born here before 1900, the best known include Georges-René Pléville Le Pelley (1726), Étienne-François Le Tourneur (1751) and Pierre Dumanoir Le Pelley (1770). The oldest is Église Notre-Dame, from the 14th century.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Monuments historiques. France protects buildings at two levels. Classé, the higher (about a third of the list), means any work needs the State’s permission; inscrit means work must be declared to the State in advance. The Culture ministry’s Mérimée base lists every protected building, and this page counts them.
- Partly protected. Many entries protect part of a building only (its façades and roofs, a staircase, a painted room). Each counts as one monument, like a fully protected one.
- Where a monument is counted. In the commune named on its protection, moved to today’s commune where communes have since merged. A monument listed for several communes counts in each.
- Sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Since 2016 France’s protected historic areas (the former secteurs sauvegardés, ZPPAUP and AVAP) share one name. Inside one, building work follows the area’s plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
- What isn’t here. Protected objects (furniture, organs, paintings), old buildings with no protection, UNESCO World Heritage listings and labels such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” aren’t on this list, so this page doesn’t count them.
- No History Grade yet. Everything on this page is described, not graded: France’s History Grade isn’t built yet.
Questions about the history of Granville
How many historic monuments are there in Granville?
The Culture ministry lists 13 historic monuments in Granville: 3 classé and 10 inscrit.
Which monuments in Granville are classé?
3, among them Église Notre-Dame, Château de Grainville and Enceinte de la Haute-Ville.
How old are the monuments of Granville?
The oldest parts of its listed monuments date from the 14th century.
Is Granville a protected historic area?
Yes: part of Granville is a site patrimonial remarquable.
When were monuments in Granville first protected?
The first in 1930, the latest in 2009.
How old are the homes in Granville?
12% of its main homes were built before 1919 (median compared French town: 7.4%).
France has no History Grade yet: this page describes, it doesn’t grade.
Sources: Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée base on POP (immeubles protégés au titre des monuments historiques), October 2026 · Ministère de la Culture, sites patrimoniaux remarquables, October 2026 · INSEE, census 2023 (main homes by build period) · Wikidata and Wikipedia (people born here) · Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata (photos of the monuments, each with its own credit and license) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.