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Built in the XI and in the
XII centuries, Notre-Dame-sur-l’eau Church is a jewel of the Romanesque Normand
style.
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The Romanesque Notre-Dame-sur-l’eau
Church was erected around 1020 by Guillaume de Belleme. Its name comes from its
situation at the edge of a ford of the Varenne. At the Church: villeins, nobles
and important dignitaries stopped off on the road between Paris and the Mont-Saint-Michel.
Guillaume le Conquérant (William the Conqueror), Henri II
who often stayed in Domfront stopped at the Church ; Saint-Louis says prayers
and gives offerings. Even Louis XI renowned for his avarice, was
generous. Unfortunately, pillaging followed havocs during the Hundred Years
War.
In 1826,
the Church is close to be demolished, and 10 years later, an engineer not very
enlightened knocked down 4 bays of the nave (more than 30 metres with the aisles)
to build a road towards Mortain. In 1889, the Beaux Arts (Fine Art) list the
building. The Second World War does not save
it: an air raid, in 1944, hits the
nave and the bell tower, but does not demolish the Church totally.
After many renovation stages, the
Church could conserve its disposition in Latin cross-shaped.
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