The old and the new churches and the bells

The 16th century church still bears traces from the 11th century. It has been transformed by various renovations and enlargements. During his visit of may 31st 1717 Monseigneur Claude Maur d’Aubigné noted that the roof had recently been restored and also noted the following about the school, ‘the school for young boys...with a school mistress from Ermemont, funded by 200L from the late Count of Clères’. Before the revolution the church housed the remains of the deacon and martyr St Vincent, remains which have disappeared.

The seigneurial chapel, roofed by a pretty cradle of wood and decorated with statues, was separated from the church by a wall where an oblique window was inserted and through which the altar could be seen. It also had a chimney-place ‘so that they could take part in mass from in front of the fire’. It contained the vault of the lords of Clères which was pillaged and disappeared during the revolution.

At the end of the 19th century the church was in poor condition despite repair works carried out in 1823. The whole building was thus demolished in 1823/24 and Hippolyte Lemarchand, then mayor of Clères had the present church built under the guidance of the architect Edouard Barthélémy.

This church in latin cross formand in neo-gothic style has a nave cut by a transept that ends in a polygonal apse. The walls are in chalk and freestone.

They are arranged in arches and punctuated with buttresses and bays with neo-gothic tracery. They are covered with a long-sided slate roof.

The west-facing facade is marked by a neo-gothic square, four-storey church tower. This is crowned by a polygonal slate steeple of clear and elegant volume. In the entrance under the gallery is a statue of St Georges, a relic from the old chapel.

The bell-tower of the old church housed three bells up until the revolution. Two of these were then taken down. The third one, dated 1659, was broken up in 1821. Two new bells were installed in 1869, ‘An important ceremony next Monday (June 1969) will be cause for celebration in Clères. Abbot Caumont, general vicar, will bless the two bells. The first is called Marguerite, named by M. Louis-Hector, count and prince of Clères, and his wife Mme Marie-Marguerite, Duchess of Choiseul'.The second bell was named Eugénie ‘named by M. Louis Leduc, Judge of the Peace at Clères and by his wife Mme Eugénie Picquet de la Houssiette’.

Were these two bells in fact the ones that were mounted in the new church?

The following article leads us to believe that there were some problems with their installation.

"Clères August 14th 1906,

Mr Prefect,

I wish to inform you that on July 26th 1906 M. Roy, clockmaker in Saint Austeberte, has sent me a report concerning the bells mounted in the church in Clères. According to this practitioner these bells are very badly mounted and pose the dangerous threat of falling, especially the bigger one which weighs 700 kilos. Are the works the responsibility of the factory? Should the mayor intervene for security reasons?"

On August 22nd 1906 the Prefect replied that the works were the sole responsibility of the makers and that the police could impose any security measures necessary.