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Origin and history

The Saint-Martin des Biards church is a Catholic building located in the former commune of Les Biards, now attached to Isigny-le-Buat in the Manche department in Normandy. Built in the 16th century, it preserves Renaissance elements such as its granite bell tower (circa 1530), decorated with pinnacles and flowered cross. The lower gate, decorated with hooks, houses a tufted tympanum representing Saint Martin's Charity, dated 14th–15th centuries. The nave windows and chapels, which were rebuilt in the 18th century*, contrast with this medieval structure.

Originally, the church belonged to a Priory of the Biards, of which it remains the main vestige. Its interior houses restored murals, a fresco of the Annunciation painted in 1958 by André Lecousy (then parish priest), as well as the baptismal fonts of the eighteenth century and a statue of Saint Nicholas of the sixteenth century. The bell tower, the only protected element, was inscribed in the historic monuments on 7 March 1975 for its characteristic architecture.

The furniture and interior decorations reflect successive additions, such as the Gothic ribs of the vault under the bell tower, supported by carved caps of grotesque characters. These details illustrate the evolution of the building, marked by four-century construction and renovation campaigns, from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The merger of the Biards with Isigny-le-Buat made it a local testimony to Norman religious history.

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