Church of Saint Marguerite of Hinges dans le Pas-de-Calais

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Origin and history

The Saint Marguerite Church in Hinges is a neo-Roman-style religious building built in the early twentieth century to replace the old church destroyed during the First World War. It was designed by architect Léon Guthmann, also involved in the reconstruction of the Place de Béthune. The building is dedicated to St.Marguerite of Antioch, a martyr virgin often associated with a dragon, one of its iconographic attributes.

The original medieval church, mentioned in 1089, was Romanesque and built in sandstone. It remained relatively unchanged until the 19th century, despite repairs in 1843 after a storm and major restoration in 1873. However, the bombings of 1914 reduced the village and its church to ruins, requiring complete reconstruction after the war.

The first stone of the new church was blessed on June 22, 1924, and the building, though unfinished, received the blessing of the Bishop of Arras in 1926. The work was completed before 1930, as evidenced by a photograph of that year. The present church, in red bricks and concrete, reflects the neo-Roman style and houses decorative elements such as a tympanum depicting Saint Eloi and Saint Catherine.

The interior, sober and functional, includes a two-level nave, a transept with altars dedicated to Saint Marguerite and Saint Eloi, and a choir leading to a five-sided apse. The facade, adorned with a statue of St.Marguerite, bears the inscriptions Venite Adoremus and Domus Dei, highlighting her religious and community vocation.

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