| Carrouges | |
| Commune Status: | Commune |
| Image Coat Of Arms: | Blason Carrouges 1.svg |
| Arrondissement: | Alençon |
| Canton: | Magny-le-Désert |
| Insee: | 61074 |
| Postal Code: | 61320 |
| Mayor: | Pierre Chivard[1] |
| Term: | 2020 - 2026 |
| Intercommunality: | Pays fertois et Bocage carrougien |
| Coordinates: | 48.5683°N -0.1444°W |
| Elevation M: | 335 |
| Elevation Min M: | 240 |
| Elevation Max M: | 361 |
| Area Km2: | 8.58 |
Carrouges (in French pronounced as /kaʁuʒ/) is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.[2]
The inhabitants are known as Carrougiens and Carrougiennes.[3] The town is home to a castle (Château de Carrouges), built in the 14th century by Jean de Carrouges and restored after the Hundred Years War.
The commune is made up of the following collection of villages and hamlets, Le Fay, L'Augrumière and Carrouges.[4]
It is 860ha in size. The highest point in the commune is 332m (1,089feet).
The commune is within the Normandie-Maine Regional Natural Park and Forêt d'Écouves.[5]
Carrouges along with another 70 communes is part of a 20,593 hectare, Natura 2000 conservation area, called the Haute vallée de l'Orne et affluents.[6]
The commune has one river, the Udon, with four streams, Grand Pied, Moulin de Besnard, Noes Morins and Rohan, which are the only watercourses flowing through its borders.
In the Middle Ages, Carrouges was part of the deanery of Asnebec. In 1490, under King Charles VIII, Jean de Blosset, Lord of Carrouges and grand marshal of Normandy, founded on his land, with its castle, a college (dedicated to Our Lady of Good Comfort) six canons payments the appointment of the lord who was also the collateur profits. These payments were estimated in 1698 to 200 pounds in Memory of the General Alençon by the intendant, M. de Pommereuil. It is also stated in 1698, that a court called "breadbasket tax" (related to gabelle paid on the salt) was located in Carrouges.
During the French Revolution of 1789, the town was called "Carrouges-la-Montagne". In August 1944, occupied by German forces, the city was liberated by the troops of the 3rd U.S. armored division, following the deeds of Mayor Geslain, who after being released from the German soldiers who had arrested him, indicated the positions of the Germans to the Americans.
La Ferme Ornée de Carrouges is a public garden in the style of a Ferme ornée, that is split into seven different gardens.[7]
The Commune has 2 buildings and areas listed as a Monument historique.
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France.