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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The St Andrew's Church of La Chapelle-Huon, dedicated to St Andrew's, has been a Catholic building listed in the Historical Monuments since 6 January 1926. Built in three phases between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries, it features a primitive Romanesque nave, a chorus reinforced with foothills, and a southern chapel transformed into a sacristy. Its composite style reflects successive enlargements, including a partial reconstruction of the west facade at the end of the 18th century and changes in boreholes. The nave, initially covered with a false wooden vault, preserves traces of a seigneurial liter, while the choir, vaulted in a broken cradle, ends with an apse in a cul-de-four. The existing stained glass windows, created by the Avice workshops (1999–2001), replaced those damaged by a storm in 1931.

The history of the church is marked by disputes of patronage between the bishop of Le Mans, Geoffroy d'Assé (1274–12777), and the lords of Saint-Calais, who claimed its foundation. A decree of 1807 gave the building back to the parish factory after a controversial acquisition during the Revolution. The bell tower, inclined and threatening to ruin, was demolished in 1903 and replaced by a campanile in 2001. The 17th century side chapel houses a tuffle altar and a partial wall painting representing an episcopal blessing. The altarpiece of the high altar (1619), dedicated to St Andrew, was offered by the parish priest Natalis Menant, while the side altars honour St Sebastian and the Virgin Mary.

The cemetery, formerly adjacent to the church, was moved in 1826 for health and demographic reasons, with an expansion finalized in 1947. The bells of the church, recast in the 19th century, bear witness to revolutionary upheavals: the original bell Marie (1647) was melted to make bullets during the Vendée war. Major repairs, such as those of the walls in 1935 or the restoration of the windows at the end of the 20th century, illustrate the ongoing efforts to preserve this heritage.

The church's architecture reveals traces of its transformations, such as the walled windows, the children's stand of 1853, or the door of the dead once overlooking the cemetery. The decorative elements, such as the angels of the chapel or the erased coat of arms, evoke his seigneurial past. Despite the loss of the historic bell tower, the building retains a strong heritage value, reinforced by its liturgical furniture (retables, statues) and its central role in community life since the Middle Ages.

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