Coyecques: Churches, Chapels and Historic Buildings

Coyecques brings together several phases of sacred architecture, historic sites and a rural landscape. The Église Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens, various chapels, the Château de Capelle-sur-la-Lys and the Moulin Louvet each add their own distinctive features. The village can therefore be viewed from different perspectives: through its churches and chapels, the history of a fief, and the landscape of the Haute vallée de la Lys.

Churches and Chapels from Several Building Periods

The Église Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens is a stone building from the final phase of the Gothic period, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Its tower dates back to the 17th century, while the rest of the church was rebuilt in the 19th century. Its building history thus spans different periods. Visitors interested in architecture will find both its late Gothic classification and the differing dates of the tower and the rest of the church.

The Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Délivrance has a distinctly different appearance. Monks from the Abbaye de Wisques built it in 1947 as an ex-voto chapel. Its elaborate brick decoration features alternating red and black bricks. Mauve stained-glass windows and a ceramic scene at the east end of the choir add to its furnishings. Its construction date, chapel type and decorative details give it a distinct character within Coyecques’ architectural history.

Built in 1869, the Chapelle Notre-Dame des Affligés features different architectural details. Its walls are made of white stone and its base of brick. It also has a ribbed vault and a round-arched portal with a drip moulding. These features contrast visibly with the brick decoration of Notre-Dame de la Délivrance: here, the focus is on the combination of white stone and brick, as well as the shape of the portal, rather than on alternating brick colours.

Smaller chapels also add to the picture of the area’s sacred buildings. The Chapelle Saint-Joseph was built in 1935. The Chapelle Notre-Dame du Bon-Secours was restored in 1934 and incorporated into a house. An ironwork gate and an inscription have survived. The dates show that the chapels do not all belong to a single building period; in the case of Bon-Secours, the surviving architectural features also shape its description.

Historic Sites and Buildings

The Château de Capelle-sur-la-Lys was the historic centre of a fief belonging to the Seigneurie of Coyecques. The site comprises a stone building complex, a pavilion with a mansard roof and a moat that remains filled with water. Here, the château’s historic role within the fief goes hand in hand with specific features of its architecture and landscape design. The pavilion’s mansard roof and the water-filled moat add distinct architectural and landscape elements to the description of the stone complex.

The Moulin Louvet is a different type of historic building. It is a brick mill that retains parts of its mill machinery. Among the surviving openings typical of a mill are hatches for a rope pulley. The mill is therefore defined not by religious architecture or the history of a fief, but by features associated with mill construction. The differences between the church, chapels, château and mill make the variety of Coyecques’ surviving building styles tangible.

Rural Landscape in the Haut Artois

Between Fruges and Coyecques, the Haut Artois is a rural landscape of long-distance walking trails and small woods. Distinct from this is the landscape of the Haute vallée de la Lys, which stretches from the source of the river to Coyecques: it brings together wooded slopes, meadows and settlements on the valley floor. Both landscapes provide a regional setting without foregrounding the same features. In the Haut Artois, the description centres on small woods and long-distance trails; in the Lys Valley, slopes, meadows and the location of settlements on the valley floor feature side by side.

Coyecques offers a combination of architectural history and rural scenery as a travel destination. Its churches and chapels differ in their dates of construction, materials and design. The château and mill complement this architectural focus with their historical associations and surviving structural features. The regional landscape descriptions add a separate emphasis on woods, meadows and valley floors.

Discover more destinations: Fiefs, Clerques, La Couture, Grand-Rullecourt, Bainghen, Cucq, Campagne, Quœux-Haut-Maînil.

For the full travel guide: Pas-De-Calais.