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Origin and history

The Pigeonier de la Colombière is one of the rare remains of the Abbey of Maroilles, founded around 650 by Radobert and entrusted to Humbert, a monk of the Laos. The abbey adopted the Benedictine rule in the ninth century, which it retained until the Revolution. After the destruction of the Norman invasions, it was restored in 1025 by Gérard de Cambrai. The wars in Hainaut in the 14th and 15th centuries disrupted its functioning, but reform began in the 15th century.

In the 18th century, the abbey underwent a reconstruction phase under the impulse of abbots builders. Benedict II the Bishop (1720-1747) had the Abbatial Quarter and the Dimary Barn rebuilt around 1735. Maurice d'Offégnies (1749-1778), the last abbot builder, redeveloped the door and counters. Between 1791 and 1794, the abbey served as a stone quarry, leaving only a few buildings, including the dovecote, inscribed as a Historic Monument in 1989.

The dovecote is part of an architectural complex including the dimière barn, the guest house and the mill, all made of blue stone and brick, typical of the Avesnois. These remains bear witness to the economic and religious importance of the abbey before its partial destruction. Today, the site is managed by an association and retains elements of furniture scattered in local churches.

The cadastral plan of 1802-1805 shows the state of the place after the revolutionary destructions: only the mill, the barn, the guest house and the vestiges of the porterie remained. The dovecote, although not detailed in the sources, is representative of agricultural dependencies linked to abbeys, symbols of seigneurial power and resource management.

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