Vains (canton of Avranches, Manche) Priory church of St Léonard

    The land of Vains had been given by William the Conqueror to the abbey of St Etienne in Caen, who founded the priory of St Leonard there. The church which has survived underwent modifications in the 19th century, the choir with a flat east end, supported by flat buttresses, was transformed into residential accommodation, and the nave transformed into a barn. The tower, located between the nave and the choir consists of three stages each slightly offset from the one below. Like the choir, this dates form the beginning of the 12th century. The east end of the Romanesque nave was probably re-worked in the 15th century.

Bibliography

- Dictionnaire des églises de France, Robert Laffont, 1968, T. IVb, p. 182
- Musset, Lucien. – Normandie romane, Zodiaque, La Pierre-Qui-Vire, 1987, 2 vol., T. 1, p. 43