“ The Tour Grise is a fine cylindrical keep built in 1120 by Henry I., who fortified Verneuil as a stronghold for the Norman frontier. The town rose to -considerable importance, and is said to have numbered as many as 25,000 inhabitants.
In 1424 the French were severely defeated by John, duke of Bedford, under the walls of Verneuil, which was then surrendered to the English; this victory confirmed the supremacy of the English over the country north of the Loire. The town was recaptured in 1449. It carries on ironfounding, dyeing and the manufacture of machinery. ”