L'église Saint-Martin is tucked away up a narrow street as you enter the village of La Chapelle-Blanche-Saint-Martin (quite a mouthful*) on the D50, heading for Tours. Its stark exterior,the result of the rebuilding in the 16th century of the original 12th century church, is not inviting in the least and taking a walk around it does not increase its appeal! Apparently the slab on the right was where they rested coffins to be blessed prior to entering the church - don't think I've noticed this at other churches -but will look for them in future.
It appears rather 'cobbled together', again probably the result of the restoration work through the centuries.
It was actually 'restored' in 1922**though not sure as to how successful or sympathetic that was!
There are some ruins behind the church with no indication as to what was there - there was a church dedicated to St Peter here prior to the 12 century so may have some thing to do with this.He was demoted in favour of Touraine's favourite son St.Martin de Tours.
Inside is fairly plain though it does have a rather ornate alter...
and side alters.
The church has three of its windows depicting scenes from St Martin's life - and death.
Where's Joan?
.
Footnotes:
* There was a La Chapelle-Blanche-sur-Loire so the village added the 'St.Martin' so as not to be confused with there or they dropped their 'Blanche' so as not to be confused with here - hope this doesn't confuse you!.
** I struggle to find much information on these churches during my research but a good source is the great French blogsite tourainissime.blogspot.fr where the author has done some great work on the towns and villages of Touraine
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