Neufmarché-en-Lyons (Canton of Gournay-en-Bray, Seine-Maritime) Priory church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens

    The church of Saint-Pierre-ès-Liens at Neufmarché is a former collegiate church which in the late 11th c. became the home of a Benedictine priory of Ouche Abbey (Saint-Evroult). The building has suffered from various restoration work carried out during the 19th century and further work undertaken following the bombing raids of 1944. While the nave is mostly 19th c., the transept and chancel are still very interesting and date from the early 12th c. In the crossing, there are so-called berrichon passages (from Berry), found in Normandy at Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei and nowhere else, to the right and left of the piers supporting the central tower. The chancel is composed of a straight bay with a semicircular cradle vault overhead, and an apse with a semidome vault; it is flanked by two groin vault chapels with a flat east end, and which communicate with the central vessel through small pointed arches. Some high quality carved fragments from the old west front have been remounted inside the building.

Henry Decaëns

 
Bibliography

- Musset Lucien : Normandie romane, tome II, p. 30 et p. 293. Sainte-Marie
de la Pierre-qui-Vire: Zodiaque, 1974.