St. Martin's Church

The Saint-Martin church is a Catholic parish church located in Béthisy-Saint-Martin, France. Its origin is ancient, and its first mention goes back to the beginning of the ninth century, but nothing of the first church remains. It was replaced in the second quarter of the 12th century by a Romanesque building, of which the elegant bell tower with its stone spire, the very simple nave, and the pointed arch western portal remain. The base of the bell tower has one of the first ribbed vaults in the region. A second ribbed vault was built around 1150 over the first bay of the choir, while the vaulting of the south aisle remained unfinished. At the end of the 13th century, the choir was enlarged: the Romanesque apse was replaced by a Gothic bay with a flat chevet, doubled by a side chapel to the south. Some time later, already in the 14th century, the north aisle was rebuilt, but the Hundred Years' War interrupted the work, so that the vaulting was not undertaken until the last third of the 15th century, in the flamboyant Gothic style. Then a side chapel north of the choir was built in the extension of the aisle. Thanks to the underpinning of the arcades to the north of the central choir vessel, a small choir hall was created, with four vaults from three different periods falling in the center on an isolated cylindrical pillar. This completes the construction of the church of Saint-Martin, which now has a rectangular plan, with three vessels, the last third of which corresponds to the choir, the base of the bell tower and the side chapels. Several restoration campaigns took place in the 19th century, and the church is now in good condition. It is classified as a historical monument since 1931. It is part of the parish of the Automne Valley and the anticipated Sunday Mass is celebrated there five times a year.