The church, a dependency of the abbey of Savigny, was rebuilt during the 12th century. Around 1450-1460, the lords of Mirambeau planned to double the building from the south, but only the enlargement of the choir was carried out. The nave will not be enlarged until the beginning of the 17th century, at the same time as the construction of the square bell tower. During the revolutionary period, the building was used as a fodder store. In 1815, the church was restored. The Romanesque church had a single nave of which the west facade and the north wall remain, an intermediate span, perhaps square of an unfinished transept, and a choir with a flat apse. the north wall of the nave, in cubic rubble, probably dates back to the 11th century and retains a claustra under an arch with small keystones. The facade has a wide semicircular portal and a series of arcades under a cornice with modillions. The Romanesque chevet is decorated with a triplet of twin bays illuminating the crypt. The Gothic enlargement of the choir is pierced with windows with flamboyant tracery. The church bears witness to the many changes that a building can experience over the centuries.
This former priory and parish church is one of the few in the department to retain pre-Romanesque elements.
The north wall of the nave is in fact a small unit, and has the particularity of being pierced by a small semicircular bay with a claustrum, that is to say an openwork stone window, characteristic of a time when glass was the prerogative of the wealthiest parishes.
The rather crude, barrel-vaulted crypt is also typical of this type of architecture. A charter from this period shows that the church was then a dependency of the abbey of Savigny, in Normandy. Partially rebuilt between the 11th and 12th centuries, which saw the flowering of a particular form of Romanesque art called "Saintonge Romanesque", it is notably endowed with a facade with a single gate with five arches and a double cord, surmounted by a series arcades and modillions.
Significant changes were made to the building in the 15th century, whether it suffered damage during the Hundred Years War (the Mirambeau region, at the gates of Guyenne, having been the scene of bitter fighting), or that the passage of time has left its mark too strongly.
The choir was modified, and an aisle called "of the Virgin" was built to the south: it has bays with complicated tracery, with bellows and smudges, characteristic of flamboyant Gothic. The interior is divided into three vessels by large square piles. Only the choir and the southern chapel are vaulted, the rest being covered with an exposed framework, of rather rough workmanship. It was reduced to the function of fodder barn during the Revolution but regained its function in 1815.
The bell, in bronze, dates from 1631. It has been classified as a historical monument since September 30, 1911 as a historical object. More generally, the Saint-Martin church has been classified as a historical monument since June 4, 20021. It has been open to the public since its restoration by Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect of historical monuments.
Translated by Google •
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