Secqueville-en-Bessin  (Canton of Creully, Calvados) Church of St Sulpice

   Having been acquired at the end of the 11^th century by the monks of the Abbaye-aux-Hommes, the church of Saint-Sulpice in Secqueville en Bessin presents a ensemble of a great purity in style and remarkable proportions. It caught fire in 1105 in an episode in the wars between Robert Courtehose and the partisans of Henri I. But the 11^th century nave survived while the transept and the high lantern tower probably date from the beginning of the 12^th century. The steeple which covers it was only added in the 13^th century. The choir is a pastiche of Romanesque art dating from the classical period  (17^th century).
In the main the monumental character of the church and the austerity of its decoration bear witness to the intervention of experienced master builders from Saint-Etienne-de-Caen. Among the features specific to the church of Secqueville, a continuous decorative band containing low relief motifs running along the nave under the arches is worthy of note. Secqueville is witness to one of the first appearances of this decoration, which may be of Anglo-Saxon origin (end of the 11^th century), taken up again at Thaon but especially in the nave of Bayeux cathedral (mid-12^th century).

Bibliography

- Baylé, Maylis. “ Les origines et les premiers développements de la sculpture romane en Normandie ”, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 100bis, p. 138
- Baylé, Maylis (dir.). – L’architecture normande au Moyen-Age, Condé-sur-Noireau : Editions Charles Corlet, Caen : Presses universitaires de Caen, 1997, T. 2, p. 76-77
- Caumont, Arcisse de. - Statistique monumentale du Calvados, Hardel, Caen, 1859, p. 288 à 291
- Musset, Lucien. - Normandie romane, Zodiaque, La Pierre-Qui-Vire, 1987, T. 1, p. 129 à 131et 149
- Serbat, L. “ Secqueville-en-Bessin ”, dans Congrès archéologique de France, 1908, T. I, p. 349 à 356
- Les siècles romans en Basse-Normandie, Art de Basse-Normandie, n° 92, Printemps 1985, p. 106, 108-109, 129