Le Tôt : The chapel

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Until 1825 Le Tot was a parish with its own church, priest and presbytery. The church, which was built of sandstone, flint and brick on the foundations of an older edifice, dates back to the end of the 15th/beginning of the 16th centuries. Dedicated to Notre-Dame-du-Buis (buis = boxwood) it was a site of pilgrimage for people suffering from rheumatism and for children who were late walkers.

After the revolution it had two bells, one of which weighed 320 pounds; according to the Abbé Maurice the second bell was taken down and replaced by a bell that carries the inscription ‘Le Tot church bell 1921’.

On September 23rd 1825 a royal ordinance attached Le Tot and Cordelleville to Mont Cauvaire for civil matters and to Clères for religious matters. The church in Le Tot thus became a chapel.

A little ‘war’ then ensued between the parish councils of Mont Cauvaire and Clères, each one wanting to keep the parishes of Le Tot and Cordeville. This ended in the Mont Cauvaire parish councillors against the Archbishop of Rouen trial.

These discussions were ended by decree of the President of the Republic, Felix Faure, on January 24th 1897, completed by an ordinance of Monseigneur Sourrieu, Archbishop of Rouen, on January 27th 1897. After 72 years of legal battle, the parishes of Le Tot and Cordelleville were both definitively attached to Clères.

The chapel has been restored several times, the last time in 2020 when the outside walls, roof and altar were renovated.