Saint Eligius

Parish Church St.-Eligius Village Church, located in a bend in the street, at the intersection of Lokerstraat and Poperingestraat. Surrounding cemetery includes British military cemetery "Westouter British Cemetery" bordered by brick wall and cast iron fences on street sides; also yew hedge. Church path shaded by lime trees. Bluestone war memorial in the bend. W.-oriented, three-aisled hall church with E. tower, after partial destruction during World War I, partly on old foundations, rebuilt with the addition of baptistery and sacristy and extension of choir under the direction of architect J. Coomans (Ypres) of 1921. Oldest known depiction of church, cf. A. Sanderus, shows three-aisled hall church with central tower with eight-sided superstructure, leaning stair turret and lower, E. oriented choir with flat closure, flanked by N. side choir. The bricked-up, round-arched passage at the bottom of the tower, r. of stair turret, refers to the original Romanesque cruciform church. The place of worship thus depicted was preserved until 1794, the year in which it burned down. Repairs carried out in 1805-1807 included the extension of the nave by one bay, the demolition of the O. choir and the construction of a new choir with apse on the W. side; The free-standing tower base was converted into a portal. Yellow brick construction; Use of iron sandstone for tower and stair turret. Slate gable roofs and spires. The plan unfolds (from E. to W.): pre-positioned tower with leaning stair turret, a three-aisled nave of four bays. with straight closure of side aisles, a main choir of one straight bay. with three-sided closing, a N.W. sacristy and S.E. baptistery. Square tower of three sections with eight-sided superstructure; perpendicular corner buttresses with cut-outs. Arched portal on imposts; descriptive round arch with tile panel with image and inscription "The Lord is my Guardian - 1940-1945" and depiction of H. Eligius l. above, placed in 1958 in the arched field, as a thank you for the safe return home of fellow villagers after 1944. Sloping third section, typified by linked round-arched niches with light slot. Eight-sided superstructure with reverberation holes on semicircular columns with simple capitals; built-in tower clocks. Delineating profiled cornice. Flanking E. gables with canopy and shoulder pieces; the N., with elongated basket-arched niche under oculus with circular tracery and obtuse pointed arch window in top; the S., with extended baptistery and crucifix under canopy and flanking figures of Mary and John on pedestal, against central bay. N. and S. facades of nave rhythmed by carved buttresses and wide pointed arched four-lights with late Gothic-inspired, brick tracery. Delineating angled and straight muzzle tooth. W. gables, such as E. gables; the S.W., however, with pointed arch window, cf. side walls. Interior. Flat atticed (tower) entrance. Wooden pointed barrel vaults with drawbeams, painted with friezes of stylized floral motifs at the level of cornice and belt arches. Bricks, slightly pointed arches on brick columns with simple capitals. Mobile: Neo-Gothic altars, confessionals, communion rails. A.R.A., D.V.G., 4452, 12414. [DESMIDTF.], De Romansche Kerkelijke Bouwkunst in West-Vlaanderen, (Ghent), 1940, p. 164-167. ROOSE-MEIER B., VERSCHRAEGEN H., Photo Repertory of the Furniture of the Belgian Places of Worship, Province of West-Flanders, Kanton Poperinge, Brussels, 1977, p. 59-60.

Onroerend Erfgoed Vlaanderen