Saint Catherine's Belfry, Honfleur

John Taylor Arms

Honfleur is a maritime town, framed for its shipbuilding, in Normandy, France. The town lost its stone church during the Hundred Years War and its replacement was built in the late 15th and early 16th centuries by shipwrights with wood from the nearby forest of Touques. Église Sainte Catherine is a massive, double-naved structure built atop the former church. There are many naval references throughout the wooden interior and the double-vaulted roof resembles two overturned ship hulls. Meant only as a temporary replacement, Église Sainte Catherine is the oldest and largest wooden church in France with its bell-tower separated from it. The bell-tower or clocher was built a good distance from the church and its square frame is topped with an octagonal pyramid. The long stone crutches were added to the bell tower in 1718 to support the building.