Church of Saint-Pierre de Bréchan. Bréchan is a few kilometers from Mauléon-d'Armagnac. The church, placed under the names of Saint Pierre and Saint Roch, occupies with its cemetery a small eminence planted with trees outside the village.
This relative isolation did not protect it from the misfortunes caused by the Wars of Religion. Around 1570, it was sacked by Calvinist troops, as indicated by a pouillé from the diocese of Aire-sur-l'Adour. On the other hand, it experienced an era of prosperity in the 400th century. around a pilgrimage to Saint Roch which attracted neighboring parishes; it then had XNUMX communicants.
Bréchan was at the conference of the bishop of Aire and depended on the archpriest of Mauléon.
The church is built of small irregular blocks of limestone, set in mortar. The nave, which ends in a semi-circular apse, is flanked by two chapels. The northern one is extended by a sacristy attached to the choir. A square bell tower, topped with a four-pitched roof covered with flat tiles, tops the end of the nave. As at Saint-Griède and Fustérouau, it is formed, to the west, by an elevation of the gable wall in matched rubble stones; the other three faces are clad in wood. An emban rests on the gable wall. Newly redone and now partly open to the west, it replaces a solid front porch with two side doors; however, the original side walls and accesses have been preserved. The south wall bears the trace of an old walled arched door. The choir is pierced by two arched windows, one axial, the other lateral to the south. It is supported by three buttresses. The southern buttress has an arched shape which is reminiscent of the start of an apse. The Association of Friends of Mauléon Heritage, concerned about the poor condition of the building and the instability of the ground, carried out excavations which revealed the presence of an apsidiole which only exists in its state. outline, which explains the arched shape of the southern buttress. The buttresses damaged by rainwater were rebuilt in bricks and topped with wooden claws, “cow tails” in order to support the overhang of the roof which was lengthened to prevent runoff along the walls. To the north, sacristy, chapel and nave are lit by windows.
You enter the church through a basket-handle door whose central keystone is decorated with the keys of Saint Peter. The nave is made up of three bays, extended by the choir; the ceilinged chapels open onto the nave through a large arched arcade. The choir and the first two bays of the nave are vaulted with ribbed ribs, made of bricks; the double arches are broken. The keystone of the choir is decorated with a mitred silhouette carrying a key, undoubtedly Saint Peter. The first bay of the nave, to the west, is paneled, following the line of the double arch. A gallery provides access to the bell tower which contains a bell from 1814, “year 14”, whose godfather and godmother were Mgr Hyacinte Laborde, Knight of Saint-Louis and Jeanne Marie Laborde. Various elements combine to suggest that this part of the paneled nave is a recent addition, however prior to the visit of the Bishop of Aire in 1842; at this level, the southern wall, according to surveys, comes up against limestone stones which suggest the presence of a tomb, while, further on, it retains traces of a walled door and preserves a font. Let us recall the description given by Abbot Cazauran: "we currently enter through an arched portal placed towards the west, the door was formerly located in the South, we can still recognize the trace there and the font is, inside, next to this blind opening.
The sacristy is equipped with a fireplace, but recently lost the device intended, according to the episcopal investigation of 1840, for the confession of deaf people: a wooden prayer table placed below a confessional grille allowing communication with the confessional placed in the north chapel. In Saint-Griède, this provision did not exist; we used a “pro surdis” grid chair.
The church has preserved its pulpit, the celebrant's bench and above all two stone fonts, one on the south wall, near the walled door, the other formed of a polygonal tank on a low foot at the corner southwest of the nave.
Bréchan was at the conference of the bishop of Aire and depended on the archpriest of Mauléon.
The church is built of small irregular blocks of limestone, set in mortar. The nave, which ends in a semi-circular apse, is flanked by two chapels. The northern one is extended by a sacristy attached to the choir. A square bell tower, topped with a four-pitched roof covered with flat tiles, tops the end of the nave. As at Saint-Griède and Fustérouau, it is formed, to the west, by an elevation of the gable wall in matched rubble stones; the other three faces are clad in wood. An emban rests on the gable wall. Newly redone and now partly open to the west, it replaces a solid front porch with two side doors; however, the original side walls and accesses have been preserved. The south wall bears the trace of an old walled arched door. The choir is pierced by two arched windows, one axial, the other lateral to the south. It is supported by three buttresses. The southern buttress has an arched shape which is reminiscent of the start of an apse. The Association of Friends of Mauléon Heritage, concerned about the poor condition of the building and the instability of the ground, carried out excavations which revealed the presence of an apsidiole which only exists in its state. outline, which explains the arched shape of the southern buttress. The buttresses damaged by rainwater were rebuilt in bricks and topped with wooden claws, “cow tails” in order to support the overhang of the roof which was lengthened to prevent runoff along the walls. To the north, sacristy, chapel and nave are lit by windows.
You enter the church through a basket-handle door whose central keystone is decorated with the keys of Saint Peter. The nave is made up of three bays, extended by the choir; the ceilinged chapels open onto the nave through a large arched arcade. The choir and the first two bays of the nave are vaulted with ribbed ribs, made of bricks; the double arches are broken. The keystone of the choir is decorated with a mitred silhouette carrying a key, undoubtedly Saint Peter. The first bay of the nave, to the west, is paneled, following the line of the double arch. A gallery provides access to the bell tower which contains a bell from 1814, “year 14”, whose godfather and godmother were Mgr Hyacinte Laborde, Knight of Saint-Louis and Jeanne Marie Laborde. Various elements combine to suggest that this part of the paneled nave is a recent addition, however prior to the visit of the Bishop of Aire in 1842; at this level, the southern wall, according to surveys, comes up against limestone stones which suggest the presence of a tomb, while, further on, it retains traces of a walled door and preserves a font. Let us recall the description given by Abbot Cazauran: "we currently enter through an arched portal placed towards the west, the door was formerly located in the South, we can still recognize the trace there and the font is, inside, next to this blind opening.
The sacristy is equipped with a fireplace, but recently lost the device intended, according to the episcopal investigation of 1840, for the confession of deaf people: a wooden prayer table placed below a confessional grille allowing communication with the confessional placed in the north chapel. In Saint-Griède, this provision did not exist; we used a “pro surdis” grid chair.
The church has preserved its pulpit, the celebrant's bench and above all two stone fonts, one on the south wall, near the walled door, the other formed of a polygonal tank on a low foot at the corner southwest of the nave.