The community of the Benedictines of Valognes was initially founded at Cherbourg in 1623, with the support of the lords of Tourlaville. In 1626, the plague forced the sisters, led by the abbess Charlotte de la Vigne, to flee from the city to take refuge at Tamerville, then at Emondeville and finally at Valognes. The congregation found in the small aristocratic capital of Cotentin an enthusiastic welcome and benefited from numerous donations. In 1629 she obtained an important piece of land which served as the foundation for the new conventual buildings. The construction of the church, begun in 1635, was completed in 1648. The community, which numbered about 80 nuns, and had set itself the mission of «providing for the good education of the damsels» and of giving refuge to the orphans, obtained from King Louis XIII his erection as a royal abbey. Its facade is adorned with a surprising baroque portal, decorated with two orders superimposed with pilasters and embellished with an impressive profusion of bossages. The residence of the abbess is a beautiful building, regularly arranged by harp chains and long horizontal bands. The other conventual buildings are organized around a cloister with gallery of arcades. Confiscated by the French Revolution, the former Benedictine abbey has been home to the Valognes hospital since 1810.