Beaurain - Saint-Médard

The fortified church dedicated to Saint-Médard is set on the edge of a plateau overlooking the valley of the Oise. It stands alone, surrounded by a graveyard. The small village of Flavigny, that once existed here, was looted and burnt down by soldiers of Philip IV of Spain at the end of the "Dutch War of Indipendence" (aka "Eighty Years' War").

The church was founded in the 12th century. The Thiérache area in Northern France has been a place, where many wars and battles were fought over the centuries (upto WW1). To fortify the church, and so to offer shelter to the rural population, was an idea many villagers followed here.

Such fortified churches mostly had a well, a bread oven and fireplaces. Some of them even had a second floor, to give more room fro the refugees. The Église Saint-Médard has an remarkable baptismal font, that reminds me on that one in the Cathedral of Laon.