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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Leu de Sévigny-Waleppe, located in the Ardennes, finds its origins in the 13th century, when it was built simultaneously with a castle today disappeared. Its architecture is singularized by a tower-porch built above the nave, contrary to usage, and flanked by two peppers in corbellation. This structural choice, supported by foothills, reflects a local adaptation to the defensive or symbolic needs of the time.

In 1576, during the Wars of Religion, the church suffered a tragic fire: 80 men, the parish priest, and women and children died in flames. The building, not fortified at that time, was partially rebuilt thanks to the mobilization of the inhabitants, who financed the square porch tower. In 1682 a new bell tower, higher, replaced the old collapsed, housing three bells transferred to the top of the tower. The interior layouts continued in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the enhancement of the choir and the vault of the nave.

Inside, Melchior de Chabiel Morière (1713–89), a knight of Saint-Louis, drew attention. His family weapons — three-pomed pine-fir — and those of his ring line, the Fabrys, adorn the funeral monument. Ranked in the Historical Monuments in 1995, the church thus embodies both a revamped architectural heritage and a local memory marked by religious conflicts and provincial aristocracy.

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