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Origin and history

The refuge of the Abbey of Saint-André-aux-Bois, located in Hesdin, is a 17th century monument. It is associated with the pre-demonstrated abbey founded in the 12th century in Gouy-Saint-André (Pas-de-Calais), now extinct. This refuge, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1926, probably served as an urban annex for the monks, offering them a secure place during troubled periods.

The mother abbey, Saint-André-aux-Bois, was founded in 1153 as a filiation of Dommartin Abbey. In the Middle Ages, the monks carried out intense clearing work to make the land arable in the Canche-Authie interfluve region. The repeated conflicts in the 16th and 17th centuries caused several fires, weakening the abbey. Despite partial reconstruction in the 18th century, it was destroyed during the French Revolution.

The only remaining remains of the abbey are the farm buildings, built from 1752. These communes, inscribed in the Historical Monuments in 1970, recall the economic and religious importance of the abbey in the region. Hesdin's refuge illustrates the adaptation of monastic institutions to the unstable political and social contexts of modern times.

The Order of the Premonstrates, to which the abbey belonged, played a major role in the agricultural and spiritual development of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. The abbots, whose names were attested from the twelfth century, led this community until its disappearance. Today, the refuge and remains of the abbey offer a material testimony of this lost monastic heritage.

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