Is the church of Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption in Landouzy-la-Ville really a fortified church? At first glance, there is little evidence of it. Yet it is now mentioned in all inventories.

When you enter the churchyard, the first thing you see is the – in my eyes – hideous neoclassical façade made of concrete (!).

Built probably in the 16th century, it was destroyed again and again, and rebuilt several times, which didn’t exactly help its appearance. It consists of a long nave, a transept with two crossbeams and a three-sided choir. The oldest parts of the church are made of sandstone and were rebuilt with bricks.

Traces of fortification can only be found with a lot of patience: there are probably two fortified rooms above the transept, and a remnant of a keep is said to still be visible on the nave, but we did not notice this.

The church is locked and no information can be found where to find a key. But if you look at the photos on the website of the Inventaire Hautes de France, it doesn’t matter, because it looks completely uninteresting from the inside, too.

Do you notice anything? Of all the fortified churches of the Thiérache, this is the least remarkable for me. I am probably doing it an injustice; because at least the church fulfils one superlative: the name of the church including the place name is probably the longest of the fortified churches in the region…