Château Ganne, Medieval ruins in La Pommeraye, France

Château Ganne is a ruined castle of the 11th and 12th centuries in La Pommeraye, Calvados. Its defences form three successive enclosures: a first bailey of 8,000 m², a second bailey 100 m long and 25 to 40 m wide, and an oval upper court 65 m by 45 m. The whole system stretches 350 m long and 80 to 100 m wide, with earthen ramparts, ditches and a masonry curtain wall.

The castle was held by the lords of La Pommeraye until the mid-12th century. In 1167 Henri II de la Pommeraye entrusted its chapel to the canons of Val Abbey; in 1180 Henry II Plantagenet, king of England and duke of Normandy, confiscated the castle for unknown reasons. The family recovered it in the early 13th century, and on the death of Goscelin III de La Pommeraye in 1219 it passed to a nephew of the Fontaine family rather than to his son Henri.

The name Château Ganne dates only from the 18th century; before that the site was called château de la Pommeraye. The Ganne name is linked to Ganelon, the traitor of the Song of Roland, and the legend that this was his castle arose when the ruins were laid out as a romantic park in the late 19th century.

The site is reached on foot through the woods of the Suisse normande; the ruins are not signposted as a staffed monument, so plan a walk rather than a timed visit. The green metal gate with vertical bars closes the arched entrance, and a white sign with black text is fixed to its centre bars. Excavations led by the Calvados departmental council followed the 2003 purchase, and the surroundings are classed as sensitive natural spaces.

The castle's name dates only from the 18th century; before that it was the château de la Pommeraye. The legend linking it to Ganelon, the traitor of Roncevaux, was born when the ruins were laid out as a romantic park at the end of the 19th century. The storm of late December 1999 destroyed the woods around the ruins.