St Martin's church

 
St Martin's church is a Gothic building of the 14th and 16th centuries. The church was rebuilt between 1504 and 1543 by the bailiff of Chièvres, Jean Delmont. At that time, there was a high tower enclosed between corner turrets and the nave was underpinned in Hainaut Gothic. The church then underwent various restoration programmes from 1872 until the Second World War. Built from local blocks and Tournai stone, it consists of a west tower, extended by a nave with three bays and side aisles and ending with a chancel with chapels.
The tower rises to four levels. The façade has a Gothic arch doorway typical of Hainaut architecture at the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of the 16th century (for its prismatic bases and mouldings). The first level has a large window with tracery. The second features a sound hole. The tower is flanked to the south-east by a stair turret.
The nave features large Gothic arches supported by columns that are typical of Hainaut Gothic architecture. The side aisles are vaulted with lancet arches (16th and 17th centuries).
The transept adjoins a deepening of the side aisles. These have a bâtière roof perpendicular to the roof of the nave. This is one of the oldest examples in Hainaut of this particular type of roof that is found in particular in Brabançon Gothic architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries.
The chancel has three bays and a barrel vaulted roof. It is flanked by chapels or side aisles and linked to the south and north with sacristies. Note the Gothic eagle lectern (1403), the seated Christ in white stone (1500) and the baptismal fonts.
Listed (9-11-1949)
 

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