Eglise Saint Martin

Built in the heart of the village, in the middle of the old cemetery of which only the calvary remains today, Saint-Martin offers a true synthesis of building methods between the 11th and 16th centuries. As is often the case, the nave is the oldest part. Its south wall, the only one preserved, shows a fishbone pattern and small windows (now blocked) with simulated keystones which are the mark of the 11th century. This first church - we know nothing about its eastern parts - was completed shortly before the middle of the 12th century by a portal in the façade and by a bell tower on its southern flank. The deep portal, entirely projecting from the front wall, has three archivolts, the second being decorated with a double row of broken sticks. A gable tops it. Built completely out of the ground, the bell tower has a very high square base, almost bare, which projects above the roofs of the church an octagonal belfry. Cut-offs at the corners of the base ensure the transition to the octagonal plan. The eight semicircular bays are framed by fine columns and a stone pyramid, similar to that of Bouconvillers, tops it. The belfry floor and the spire were rebuilt identically after their almost total collapse in 1968. Inside, the base is covered with an archaic ribbed vault, received on consoles sculpted with faces or masks. The primitive choir was replaced around 1170 by a new two-bay choir with a flat chevet. Doubleaux, ogives and formets fall on bundles of columns through capitals decorated mainly with acanthus leaves, as it should be at the time. Towards the end of the 14th century, a two-bay seigniorial chapel was added to the north side of the choir, while another chapel was built shortly afterwards in the south-east corner. The ogives of the vault, already prismatic in profile, fall on sculpted brackets to the north and on columns to the south. The vault of the second bay of the choir was redone on this occasion. With its three independent gables and its double lancet windows surmounted by a rose, the large flat chevet looks good. Finally, in the 16th century, the nave was enlarged to the north by a side aisle with five bays vaulted with ogives. The vaulting of the nave itself was started but never completed. A 16th century rood beam, still in place at the entrance to the choir, various stone statues, also from the 16th century, and a baptismal font from 1544 add to the interest of the building. Dominique Vermand