Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The church of Saint-Éloi de Pœuilly stands in the heart of the village, in the east of the Somme department, in the Hauts-de-France region. Its history is marked by a total reconstruction after the destruction of the First World War. The present building, built between the two wars, replaces an earlier church erected in 1830, razed during the conflict. Its reconstruction was entrusted to the architect Claude-Antoine Dory, while the entrepreneur Mario Mazzarotto supervised the works, combining traditional materials like stone and brick for a sober yet elegant style.

The tower, imposing and surmounted by an arrow in slate, dominates the nave, slightly elevated from the choir. A checker pattern, formed by the assembly of bricks, decorates the upper part of the exterior walls. Inside, the furniture was designed in 1926 by Claude-Antoine Dory himself, with works signed by local artisans: the Lille workshop Buisine for the high altar and ambon (1930), the locksmith A. Millet for the choir fence and guardrails (1932), and the Amienese workshop Daniel Darquet for the glass windows (1926). A stained glass window depicts even Émile Laleuux, mayor of Poeuilly, who died in 1924 in tribute to his gift for the Sacred Heart.

Among the remarkable elements, the church houses a 12th century baptismal tank, a medieval vestige preserved despite the destructions. The stained glass windows, such as that of the Virgin of Lourdes or the Sacred Heart, as well as the architectural details (rosace, porch, staircase turret), bear witness to artisanal know-how and a desire for rebirth after the war. This monument thus illustrates the reconstruction of the Hauts-de-France, mixing heritage and modernity in a village marked by history.

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