Château de la Rivière, Medieval castle ruins in Saint-Fromond, France

Château de la Rivière is a ruined castle on a low rise in the former marshes of the Vire at Saint-Fromond. Its surviving walls are rough grey, tan and brown masonry, with a broken upper edge and two small rectangular openings stacked on the visible face. The site forms a large polygonal moated enclosure flanked by circular towers, one of which served as the keep.

Odon de Bayeux, half-brother of William the Conqueror, had the castle built in 1090. Through the Hommet family it passed by marriage to the Montenay lords at the end of the 13th century. In 1462 Jean de Montenay sold it to Christophe de Cerisay, and the present structure dates largely from the later 15th century. It was abandoned in 1818 and in 1944 a powder magazine was dynamited by German troops.

The name La Rivière comes from the Vire marshes on which the castle stands. In 1811 the abbé Demons described the entrance flanked by two projecting towers, a dovecote that doubled as a defence tower, and a low vaulted chamber called the Prison. Since the ruins became a stork conservation site, entry inside is forbidden to protect the nests.

Access to the interior of the ruins is forbidden to protect the stork nests; the site is viewed from outside. The remains stand on a slight rise among the old marshes of the Vire, so the ground around them can be wet.

In 1944 part of the castle, used as a powder magazine, was dynamited by the German army before its evacuation, which explains the broken wall line visible today. Since then the ruins have served as a stork conservation site, and access inside is closed to protect the nests.