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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Gilles-Saint-Leu de Boubiers, located in the Oise (Hauts-de-France), is a Romanesque building dating back to the first half of the 12th century, whose central bell tower with its octagonal stone arrow still remains today. The walls of the nave, recognizable by their opus spicatum apparatus and their flat buttresses, bear witness to this period. The early choir was replaced in the 13th century by a Gothic choir of two spans, while the vaults of the latter disappeared in an indefinite period. Major transformations took place in the 16th century, in the flamboyant Gothic style: a new western façade was built, the last span of the nave was vaulted, and two oblique passages connected the crucifixes to the choir, avoiding the crossover of the transept.

The western facade, flamboyant Gothic architecture, is distinguished by its balance and its measured decoration. It is surrounded by pinnacle foothills, with a basket handle door surmounted by a rare flamboyant bay in the Vexin. Inside, the nave, never vaulted, retains an apparent structure in a broken cradle, while the choir, although devoid of its dogive vaults, keeps the original columnettes and formets. The Romanesque bell tower, unique in the region with a single bay per face, is crowned with a stone arrow decorated with fish scales, changing from square to octagon by inclined planes.

Ranked a historic monument on 22 July 1943 with its adjoining cemetery, the church houses remarkable furniture, including six elements protected by title object. Among them are a 14th century Virgin with Child, 16th century statues (holy Barbe, Saint Mary Magdalene, Education of the Virgin), 14th century baptismal fonts and two 12th century monolithic altars, tangible traces of Romanesque origins. These altars, although degraded, preserve remains of polychromy. The building, still surrounded by its rural cemetery, illustrates medieval architectural evolution in the French Vexin, mixing Romanesque hardiness and Gothic elegance.

The church is part of an atypical plan for the region, with openings and lateral passages linking transept, nave and choir without taking the cross. The crucifixes, dogive vaulted, have carved keys (skin to the north, double-tore veins to the south). Externally, the choir retained its 13th century appearance, despite the erosion of the saw toothed cords and crowded cornices. The broken arched bays, without reamping, and the resalt foothills recall the cannons of primitive Gothic architecture.

Located away from the centre of the village, Church Street, the church dominates a rural landscape, its cemetery overlooking the fields. This site, still preserved, offers an intact testimony of medieval religious art and its anchoring in the community life of Vexin. Historical sources, such as the works of Bernhard Duhamel (1988) and Dominique Vermand (2003), underline its authentic character, little altered since the 16th century, and its role in local heritage.

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