Claville-Motteville

The hamlet of Gouville, now annexed to Claville-Motteville, hides the remnants of a parochial and communal autonomy that has since vanished. At the heart of this former commune, which lost its administrative title in 1829, there once stood the Church of Saint-Martin, an edifice whose memory still haunts local chronicles.

The building, whose origins date back at least to the 13th century, formerly featured a nave larger than that of Claville, allowing the faithful to move freely around the pews. Around 1820, the death knell sounded for the sanctuary: it was demolished, and its materials were even used to construct a residence in Clères. Today, the exact site of the church and its cemetery, identified by the cadastral surveys of 1825, has become a private property where no religious sign perpetuates the memory of the site.

The dispersal of Saint-Martin’s furnishings still fuels village lore. The 13th-century baptismal fonts, adorned with sculpted faces, are the most famous survivors; after remaining in the cemetery for many years, they were honourably reinstalled in Claville Church in 1872. The statue of the patron saint, depicting Saint Martin on horseback, is the subject of a true "popular legend": it is said that the inhabitants of Cailly removed it by stealth during the night, though it is more likely that Father Lebaillif collected it for safekeeping after the Revolution. Of the original peal of bells, only the bell named "Geneviève", cast in 1722, survived the revolutionary requisitions that saw its companion sent to the foundry.

Gouville’s past is also marked by heroic figures and major archaeological discoveries. History recalls the sacrifice of a "bellicose priest" of the 16th century who, armed with an arquebus, died bravely during the siege of Rouen in 1592. Even further back, the soil of the "Côte aux Prêtres" (Priests' Hill) revealed Merovingian sarcophagi in 1861, containing intact skeletons, amber jewellery, and Frankish pottery, proving the ancient settlement of this valley.

Today, silence reigns over the site of the vanished church. Gouville is now but a faded village, whose identity persists only through its scattered relics and the passionate accounts of local historians.