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Origin and history

The church Saint-Gilles de Leuvenville, located in the department of Eure-et-Loir in the region Centre-Val de Loire, finds its origins in a seigneurial chapel founded by Georges Cochechilet, seigneur of the place. Until 1536, this chapel, dedicated to Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, depended on the parish of Bleury. That year, Jeanne d'Angest, widow of Georges Cocheffilet, obtained from the bishop of Chartres his transformation into a parish church under the name of Saint-Gilles, thus marking his religious autonomy.

The building, built in stone, has a nave of 12.5 meters long and retains traces of the shields of the family Cochechilet above the gate. The key to the vault, decorated with instruments of the Passion, and the transept, built on the former seigneurial chapel, bear witness to its medieval heritage. The sacristy, added in the 19th century, and the slate roof (replacing the original tiles) reflect later modifications. The bell tower, initially covered with tiles, completes this modest but historic architectural ensemble.

The stained glass windows, created in 1894 by glass painter Charles Lorin, replace the originals in ordinary glass and represent the Virgin and Saint-Gilles, patron of the church. The furniture includes an 18th-century high altar and altarpieces, as well as a carved tombstone by Jacques de Cochevilet, originally placed on the floor in the choir. This slab, engraved by a knight mounted on a lion and wearing the family coat of arms, illustrates the close link between the church and the local nobility.

Today attached to the parish "Bienheureuse Marie Poussepin" of the diocese of Chartres, the church of Saint-Gilles retains remarkable historical and artistic elements. The seigneurial chapel, with its re-used tombstone, and the stained glass windows signed by Lorin make it a precious testimony of art and devotion in Eure-et-Loir, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

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