Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité – Putot-en-Bessin

Listed in the supplementary register of Historic Monuments on 12 April 1927, the origins of the Church of Notre-Dame de Putot are thought to date from the 12th to the 14th century.

History – Architecture

The origins of the Church of Notre-Dame de Putot are thought to date from the 12th to the 14th century.
However, it is difficult to state this with absolute certainty, as the church, which was severely damaged during the bombings of the Second World War, was subsequently largely restored.

The building offers an insight into the evolution from the Romanesque to the early 13th-century Gothic style.

According to Arcisse de Caumont in his *Statistique monumentale du Calvados*, Volume 1, pp. 266 and 268:
“The nave of the church at Putot features arched windows with small columns: two doors, to the north and south (1), are also arched, and modillions with arcades likewise herald the transition and perhaps even the early years of the 13th century, as this feature seems to relate more to the early period of the ogival style than to the transitional Romanesque: there is no door on the west side, but only windows, as in a great many 13th-century rural churches.
The chancel, which is slightly lower than the nave, is far less distinctive: it features corbels without arcades beneath the cornice.
Formerly, two chapels gave the church a cruciform plan; these were removed a very long time ago, and subsequently, unsightly square windows were cut into this space to let more light into the church.
The tower that once stood on the transept was rebuilt or considerably raised around the 14th century; it features a row of arcades with small columns, and above these, long double-paned windows, some of which have been bricked up to protect the interior of the tower from rainwater, and the stone vault with crossed arches, which extends to about halfway up the tower. A double-pitched roof crowns this tower, which must originally have been intended to have a different finial.
To the south of the church, in the room known as the ‘manor room’, there once stood a chapel dedicated to St Hilaire, of which no trace remains.
The parish of Putot, like that of Bretteville, belonged to the Abbey of St Étienne in Caen. Notre-Dame de Putot was a dependency of Bretteville, but the parish priest of both parishes resided in Putot (2).
Baptisms, marriages and burials took place in Putot; within this church there were endowments which were administered by priests specifically attached to Putot Church, and these two parishes were divided in both spiritual and temporal matters.


The Caen chapter received a quarter of the major tithes, and the chaplain of St Hilaire another quarter: St Stephen’s Abbey collected the remainder, along with the minor and green tithes.
Two 17th-century manor houses can still be seen in Putot: the door of one of them bore carved coats of arms which were scraped off during the Revolution.”
(1) The south door was bricked up long ago: entry is now via the north door.
(2) In the sanctuary, on the Gospel side, one can still see the tombstone of a parish priest of Putot and Bretteville, who died in 1689.

Objects / Points of interest
Baptismal Fonts (listed object – ISMH 1975)
18th century
marble: carved, moulded; wood: carved, moulded
Baptismal font in veined pink marble, on a square plinth. Circular, moulded base. Cylindrical shaft, moulded in the lower and upper sections. Four-lobed basin, with a moulded upper section. It features two oval basins and two rectangular recesses. Wooden lid, four-lobed, with moulded edges.

Chalice (listed object – ISMH 2016)
1789
In silver.
Circular foot. Rim decorated with three flowers in medallions. Top of the foot decorated with leaves. Stem with two collars decorated with interlacing patterns. Central pear-shaped knot decorated with leaves. Bowl undecorated.
3 hallmarks: master’s mark; community hallmark; maker’s mark
Details: Maker’s mark (on the foot and bowl): an ‘A’ within a circled border inlaid with the number 2 (Jean-François Kalandrin, farmer-general, 1789–1792); guild mark (letter-date on the foot): a crowned P (1789); discharge mark: a leaf within a circle with a numeral indicating the year (Jean-François Calandrin, fermier général, 1789–1792).

Cemetery cross (listed object – ISMH 1975)
Cemetery cross classified as a building on 4 October 1932 and subsequently listed as an object on 29 January 1975.
18th century
Carved stone

Sources
Church – POP
Statistics on Monuments in Calvados – Arcisse de Caumont