Having been largely rebuilt in the 17th century, the main value of the church of Essay resides in its Romanesque portal either side of which can be seen walls and traces of fishbone bonding (opus spicatum).
This portal retains capitals sculpted in heads of monsters supporting an arch decorated in grimacing faces and stars.
A baptismal font from the 12th century, which has survived in this church, comes from the church of Echuffley, a parish attached to Essay in 1840. It was made from a block of solid stone, and ornamented with a geometrical decoration, somewhat crudely executed, consisting of lozenges highlighted by round balls, intersected by animal heads (lion, monkey and
donkey).
Bibliography
- "Essay", Annuaire des cinq départements de la Normandie, Congrès d'Alençon, 122e congrès, 1964, p.
23
- Dictionnaire des églises de France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse, IVB, Normandie, Paris, 1968, p. 63 (notice de P. Siguret).
- L'art roman dans l'Orne, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 66, été 1975, p. 35