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Origin and history

The Sainte-Colombe Abbey of Blendecques was founded in 1186 by Ghislon d'Aire, under the authority of the Bishop of Thérouanne and with the support of the Count of Flanders Philippe d'Alsace. Validated by Pope Clement III in 1189, it initially depended on Clairmarais Abbey. Its cloister, organized around a garden, and its claustral buildings were built according to a quadrilateral plan typical of Cistercian abbeys.

Over the centuries, the abbey received many gifts, including the Count of Flanders in 1186 and the Abbey of Saint Bertin in 1211. In 1395 it absorbed the abbey of Bonhem, destroyed by the English, integrating its property and its last two nuns. The Abbatial district, built around 1640 by the Abbess Anne l'Enfant, is distinguished by its double-row facades of windows surmounted by frontons.

The abbey suffered damage in 1644 during an attack ordered by Marshal Jean de Gassion, who subsequently stayed there. After the French Revolution, it was sold as a national property in 1793 and partially destroyed by its purchaser, Jacques Bommiez. Today, only the Abbatial Quarter, the entrance porch and a farm built in 1770, protected since 1991 under the Historical Monuments remain.

The coat of arms of the abbey represented a silver dove holding a gold crossette on a sandfield. Located in the valley of the Aa, between the plateaus of Helfaut and Longunesse, the abbey used the stream for its mills, although its location was exposed to the floods.

Among the notable figures, Beatrix de Guînes, daughter of Count Arnould III, was abbess around 1287, while Austreberthe de Fiennes held this position at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The abbey also had a refuge in Hesdin, testifying to its regional influence before its partial disappearance.

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