Lessay - Abbay Sainte-Trinité

The abbey Sainte-Trinité was founded around 1056 by Richard Turstin Haldup and his son Eudes au Capel, both Lords of the neighbouring La Haye-du-Puits. Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Bec-Hellouin (aka "Bec Abbey"), about 180kms north, settled here.

In 1098 the choir of the abbey church had already been built, as Eudes died that year and got buried inside the choir. The nave was built in the first years of the 12th century. The church got consecrated in 1178, but it was not fully completed at that date.

One of the key players of the Hundred Years´ War was Charles II of Navarre (aka "Charles the Bad"), who was not only King of Navarre , but as well Count of Évreux. Charles had large possessions in Northern France. His armee destroyed abbey and church in 1356. The church got rebuilt between 1385 and 1420. The last nine convents left the abbey after the French Revolution, when the convent buildings got sold as "National Property" and the abbey church became the parish.

On July 1, 1944, the retreating German army blasted this church, what left nothing but a mountain of rubble. From 1945 on all remaining parts of the puzzle got scrutinized and numbered, before the reconstruction started under the direction of Yves-Marie Froidevaux. The rebuilding of the church was completed in 1958, since then again, it serves the parish.

During the reconstruction after WWII, the grave of Eudes au Capel was found under the crossing tower.