The Church of Saint-Martin is a modest building, but representative of the Sologne region.
It consists of a single nave, 15 meters long by 7.50 meters wide, extended by a wider chancel, 10.50 meters long by 8 meters wide.
The nave dates from the 12th century and is built of small, irregular rubble stones* and various reclaimed materials (iron burls have even been found in the walls). Dressed stone (lake limestone) is reserved for the quoins and window and door surrounds.
The west door is Romanesque: a semicircular arch with an extradosed stringcourse of diamond points (the surrounds have been altered). It is surmounted by a narrow, rather archaic window with a gunport-like vault and no rebate, which has recently been reopened and fitted with a newly created stained-glass window.
Traces of two other similar Romanesque windows have been discovered and preserved on the south and north walls of the nave. A beautiful basket-handle arched "door of the dead" was also discovered to the south. The current stained-glass windows were added no later than the early 20th century.
In 2003, the entire structure was restored with a lime plaster finish and tufa stone window and door frames.
The apse, flanked by brick buttresses laid in a diamond pattern, is characteristic of the early 16th century. The removal of the plasterwork revealed two large segmental arched windows to the south (dating from the 17th or 18th centuries). The sacristy roof was restored with flat tiles, and its doorway was rebuilt with dressed stone and an oak lintel.
The church has a small timber-framed bell tower (17th century?) overlooking the west facade. The nave roofs are now covered in slate, whereas they were originally covered in local tiles, as was the sacristy (built in the late 18th or early 19th century).
Inside, the church remains in its 19th-century state. While the 17th-century timber frame has disappeared, the building still possesses an interesting 15th- or 16th-century timber frame, with tie beams adorned with rather naive corbels. The king posts and wooden vault were modified later, culminating in the 19th century with a low-pitched plaster vault on laths. A complete 15th-century truss, with a molded king post, base, and capital, is hidden between the west gable wall and the bell tower.
While the interior plasterwork was redone a few years ago, the work carried out in 2002 and 2003 uncovered remnants of mural paintings on the west side, by clearing the Romanesque window (which had been blocked during the installation of the bell tower). A faux-ashlar decoration with double ochre-red joints is still clearly visible.
The church retains most of its furnishings from after the Counter-Reformation: the pulpit, the altar with its altarpiece (decorated with a Charity of Saint Martin, a copy from 1867), and the baptismal font.
Translated by Google •
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