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Origin and history

The abbey Saint-Nicolas de Marcheroux was founded in 1122 by Ulric, disciple of Saint Norbert de Xanten, founder of the order of the Premonstrated. Originally located in Jouy-la-Grange (present-day Beaumont-lès-Nonains), it was transferred around 1145 to the Marcheroux site, 5 km away, thanks to a donation by Ansculphe de Sénots. A papal brief of 1147 confirmed this installation, placing the abbey under the supervision of the abbey of Saint-Josse in Dommartin. The name Marcheroux could evoke a marshy place (Marchasium Radulphi) or a border associated with a certain Radulf. Ansculphe also offered the farm of Beaumont, where Ulric established a convent of nuns, destroyed in 1192 but active until the thirteenth century.

The abbey experienced troubled periods: ravaged at the end of the 12th century by Guyard, descendant of Ansculphus, then during the English siege around 1430, it remained in ruins until the 16th century. A new abbey, consecrated in 1536, collapsed in 1615. In 1668 the community adopted the reform of primitive rigour, initiated by Servais de Lairuelz. Under the commende regime (established in 1727), his income remained modest (1,600 pounds/year), well below that of nearby abbeys like Coldmont. At the Revolution, only seven monks lived there; The buildings were sold as a farm, and the church, deprived of its vaults, became a barn in the 19th century.

Today, the abbey retains its 13th century choir and apse, while the nave and facade, rebuilt around 1710, bear witness to the modern era. From the 17th century convent house, there is only one wall left, and the 18th century gate (which has recently collapsed) marks the entrance. The whole, including the archaeological soils, has been listed in the Historical Monuments since 1995. A part of the furniture was preserved: sixteen wooden stalls (1716), two altars and their altars, today in the church of La Houssoye, as well as the altar walls of the eighteenth century in Montjavoult, classified as historical objects.

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