Abbaye Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Châtillon-lès-Conches, abbey located in Eure, in France
The Abbaye Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Châtillon-lès-Conches is a former Benedictine monastery in Conches-en-Ouche, Normandy. The surviving buildings include the former hostelry, the press, cellars and part of the enclosure, with heavy stone buttresses supporting a flying arch and a plain stone bench against the wall. The abbey church was destroyed during the French Revolution.
Roger I de Tosny founded the Benedictine abbey in 1035 at a site called Castillon and brought monks from Fécamp, with Gislebert as first abbot. Donations gave it priories in England, at Wootton Wawen in Warwickshire and Horsham in Norfolk. It was ravaged during the Hundred Years' War, adopted the Maurist reform in 1630, and was largely destroyed during the Revolution by Turreau's infernal columns, leaving only buttresses and flying arches of the abbey church.
The abbey kept the relics of Saint Mauxe and Saint Vénérand. On 15 May 1480 the abbot Jean gave the Count of Laval a notable portion of the front part of Saint Vénérand's head, kept at his castle of Acquigny; the relics were later held in the church of Saint-Vénérand in Laval. Since the 21st century the site has housed the collections of the Musée du verre.
The site is easily accessible and located in the small town of Conches-en-Ouche in a quiet rural area. Visit when you have time to explore at a relaxed pace, as the remaining stone walls and structures reward patient examination of architectural details.
In 1480 the abbot Jean gave the Count of Laval a notable portion of the front part of the head of Saint Vénérand, kept at the castle of Acquigny; the handover took place on 15 May 1480, and the relics were then kept in the church of Saint-Vénérand in Laval. The abbey also held relics of Saint Mauxe.
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