Lessay Abbey

Description

It is not exactly known when the Abbaye de Sainte-Trinité in Lessay was established; other historians date it to 1056, Cologne University to 1105. The vaults of the church, built around 1100 are however probably the oldest in Normandy. The abbey flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries, but during the Hundred Years' War in 1356 it was burned and looted. The nave and tower were badly damaged and restored in 1385. Lessay Abbey suffered again in the French Wars of Religion, when it was looted twice. Again in World War II the bombings of Normandy invansion in 1944 destroyed it partially and restoration took 12 years.