It is a remarkable fact that despite the ravages of war and especially the destruction that occurred in the Second World War, Bergues has managed to conserve much of the atmosphere and style that it had pre-1914. We will now take a look at essential aspects of the town’s heritage which give it that atmosphere and style, namely the town’s buildings, streets and squares.

What this terrace of modern buildings exhibits is a restrained and orderly composition which nevertheless displays subtle variety. The architects have worked hard to achieve this ‘delight’ for our eyes while at the same time producing eminently sensible, practical buildings that belong in their context. These post-war buildings still look today, some 50 years after their construction, as though they were built only recently and while some may carp at their regularity and rather mechanical straightness-of-line when compared to their more ‘characterful’ cousins of earlier centuries, these new buildings are a genuine and – I believe – largely successful attempt to marry the old and the new together.

We will see more of this ‘regionalist architecture’ later on.

Standing in the Place de la République and Place Henri Billiaert, you would be forgiven for believing that it is in fact the motor car that dominates, rather than anything else. But 2020 saw an interesting initiative launched for a public consultation as to how the Berguois would like to see not just the Place de la République look in the future, but also the two other squares nearby, Place Henri Billaert and Place du Marché aux Volailles. This writer would be in favour of the Place de la République and Place Henri Billaert remaining as big, open spaces for markets and fairs (in the traditional Flemish manner) but perhaps re-paved with traditional cobbles and with much more limited parking (the town’s policy regarding car use is to discourage it, with walking and cycling encouraged).

Aside from the unfortunate prevalence of the motor car, the three squares are dominated by the beffroi (Bell Tower) and the Place de la République additionally by the Hȏtel de Ville (Town Hall) plus more modest contenders, La Poste (the Post Office) and the Caisse d'Epargne, on the north-east corner.

The beffroi is an extraordinary thing. Towers like these are a feature of many towns in this part of France and, indeed, just across the border in Belgium (that of the Town Hall at Bruges is probably the best known). They are given to represent the architectural manifestation of emerging civic independence from feudal and religious influences and more than 50 of them in the region are together designated a ‘World Heritage Site’ by UNESCO.

The beffroi of Bergues has served several purposes during its various incarnations – lookout tower, town hall, and timekeeper. The bells of the carillon (peal of bells) were an integral part of those functions, ringing in times of danger but also counting out the hours. Today, the 50-bell carillon is rung at midday every Monday, at the close of the market, and the hours, half and quarter hours are also struck. The clock is a modern quartz mechanism which is linked to an electro-magnetic device which in turn rings the appropriate bell(s). On special occasions, a carillonneur (bell player) takes over and literally plays tunes via what may be called a ‘keyboard’ reminiscent of a church organ.

The first beffroi in Bergues is thought to date from 1112 and was built by German architects, the first of which ‘couldn’t get along with the town and left’ while the second ‘departed before the end of the work which lasted for twelve years’. This first building was destroyed in the great fire of 1383 but a new beffroi was started almost immediately and was crowned with a pyramidal roof. In 1558, with Bergues under siege and the town once more destroyed by fire, the beffroi was practically all that was left standing, possibly because it was made of brick. Damage was repaired from 1559 to 1560 and the original roof replaced by the carillon, the bells housed within a timber structure with open sides. Reconstruction of this upper part occurred in 1626 together with the addition of the bulbe on top crowned with a golden lion, symbol of the Berguois. This configuration of the beffroi was thenceforward to be maintained, up to and including the present day.

In 1656 the town was again under fire and the invading French army requisitioned many of the bells to melt them down to make cannons. In 1880 the beffroi was once again repaired and 35 bells provided to replace those lost. In 1938, just before the Second World War, all the bells were taken down for tuning, except two - le Bourdon dating from 1643 and the oldest, la cloche du Ban. Fortuitous it certainly was that the bells were taken down at that time as they were thus saved from the destruction of 1939-1945 when the battered remains of the beffroi were finally dynamited by the departing German army in an act of what many perceive as pure spite but, more likely, the intent was the removal of a tall structure that could be used by the Allies as an observation post.

After the war, the first priority was re-housing the many citizens who had lost their homes and/or were displaced so it was not until 2nd of July 1961 that the Berguois were able to celebrate the completion of a brand-new beffroi, designed by the chief architect of the Monuments Historiques, Jean Gélis (1887-1975). This one could not possibly match the architectural qualities of that which was lost, ptrimarily because of cost. But, just as we’ve seen with the post-war buildings in the Place, the new beffroi was conceived to appear as unmistakably ‘a child of its time’ and presents a therefore ‘reduced’, Modern aspect in its simplified details but is nevertheless commanding in its stature at some 50 metres high (although here too economies were made, as it is a little shorter than its predecessor). A recent restoration project, carried out in 2018-19, has rejuvenated the building, to the great pride of all concerned and the delight of visitors to the town during the summer season as they may climb the stairs to the carillon platform and enjoy the extensive view.

The building we see today is almost four-square in plan with the facades built of a veined grey stone with details, such as the window subdivision, picked out in a blue Soignes stone which may be seen on other buildings in Bergues, often performing the same role as here, namely a plinth on which the building sits. Behind that plinth and under the raised ground floor, there are six vaulted bays which together form a vast citerne (reservoir). The balustrade above the eaves distinguishes itself via the 60 pyramides which look rather like obelisks, behind which lies a mansard roof; the only windows to the mansard are the two on the east side.

What remains today of l’Abbaye Saint-Winoc is unquestionably impressive in itself in that it permits us to wonder at the scale of the abbey church that once existed here. The Tour Carrée features a large palette of differing kinds of brick and stone, belying the disrepair and repair it has undergone subsequent to the abbey’s dissolution and destruction. It still has remains of the creamy stone from nearby Cassel in some columns and arches, especially on the east side to what was once the choir. However, more dominant by far are the remains of the medieval church in the form of the ironstone still present with, on the west side, a great three-course segmental stone arch spanning almost the width of the tower with just the vestige of simple block capitals at the spring points (and a walled-in Romanesque door within the right buttress). On the south side, the same enormous arch but below and within the infill wall we see an embedded stone pointed arch, indicating the south transept was of later date and lower in height. On the east side, different again with the outline of a very tall pointed-arch opening with its tip almost at the belfry windows, indicating the choir to have been very high indeed. And finally, on the north side, an almost exact repetition of the south. The massive buttresses at each corner, mainly composed of the remnants of the nave, transept and choir walls they once belonged to, aid the impression of solidity and strength.

About halfway along the Avenue du Général de Gaulle, we turn right into Rue d’Ypres and here, as you walk along, you will come across a gap where there is a pedestrian crossing which marks the boundary between the post-World-War-Two housing you’ve just been looking at and the remains of the seventeenth-century-and-later houses that used to be prevalent here. On the right, we have a fine view of the Tour Pointue. On the left, a large open area comprising gardens which the town council has its eye on for some new infill housing, perhaps ten homes in total, in line with its policy of encouraging a modest increase in Bergues’s population. Also on the left and beside the gardens, the Passage Saint-Pierre, a path that leads to a row of garages and if you walk past them on the left, you’ll be rewarded with a very fine view of the Rempart Bourguignonne (Burgundy Ramparts) of the 15th century, stretching away to the west (more on that in ‘The Fortifications Walk’).

The council proposed either a) demolition of all the buildings except the collège and the adjoining pedimented facade, with conversion of the site to parking for the collège together with landscaping, and the building of a screen wall on the site’s street boundary or b) retention of the collège, shed and the 1960s building with a smaller parking area at the rear of the collège and covered parking under the shed, plus a new private landscaped area in front of the 1960s building, which is intended to be converted to housing too.

It strikes this writer that the second of these two options was the better as it proposes working with the existing buildings rather than removing them, which in terms of embodied energy is a lot more environmentally sound, and the landscaped area will, I hope, be a positive addition to the streetscape of Bergues. Also, the 1960s building will provide a few more additional homes, in line with the council’s modest policy on population growth. Judging by the work underway in August 2021, it appears that option b) has been chosen.

And what, you may ask, of the twentieth century within the old town?

Well, we have already seen some of the post-war buildings earlier on our Walk and we’ve taken time to make the case for seeing these buildings as sensitive and largely successful additions to Bergues’s townscape. Other than these buildings, there is little of interest. But in a sense, it’s a blessing, in that after the Second World War the decision taken to conserve and repair whatever of the past could be saved, rather than demolishing and starting again, has safeguarded much of the town’s historical aspect. That policy of, effectively, conservation within the town walls has meant little opportunity for modern development apart from the 1950s/60s housing which rapidly occupied practically all the sites within the walls which were emptied by the bombing and shelling. Just like those we’ve already taken a look at, there are others worthy of attention and we’ll point them out on the way.

But Bergues is unfortunately not entirely free of frankly hideous twentieth century buildings and we’ll not be spending time looking at them!

Plus, there are the inevitable and extremely unfortunate ‘improvements’ made to so many buildings, about which we’ll remain equally silent…

Let’s now have a look at our second street of unquestionably deserving interest, Rue des Cavaliers.

But it is the artistry in brick that makes no.15 exceptional. Just the variety of brick arch types is remarkable – cut segmented brick relieving arches to three ground floor windows, three-centred (almost basket) arches, the oldest on the building, to the door and the small window to its left, and the first floor windows with very fine moulded brick arches, repeated for the two brick-fronted dormers as well. And look at the eaves – superb moulded corbel bricks forming the eaves and support for the gutter. The windows themselves are perhaps nineteenth century or later.

The house was for sale in 2019 and has been purchased, with some work done to the plastered plinth and ground floor windows in July 2020. The unfortunate state of the dormers (especially that on the right) needed addressing and visiting in August 2021, repair work had indeed been done. Good news.

By the way – did you spot the beautiful wrought iron fanlight above the door to no.11? No? Well, go take a look!

Continuing down the Rue du Collège we arrive back in the Place de la République where we turn left and walk along the Rue Lamartine (try to avoid this writer’s almost involuntary drift across the street to end up staring through the window of the Patisserie Franchois) which leads into the Rue Maurice Cornette (1918-1983, veterinarian, he succeeded Alphonse de Lamartine as Bergues’s ‘député’ from 1967-81) which, in no. 12 on the west side of the street, has an especially fine example of a seventeenth-century traditional brick house (and mostly well restored too).

So now we retrace our steps back down the Marché aux Bestiaux and into Rue Maurice Cornette and here it is again worth reminding ourselves of how Bergues’s post-war domestic architecture of the 1950s/60s really did strive to respect the town’s architectural inheritance of the 16th and 17th centuries, so as to ensure the new buildings neither ignored nor dominated that inheritance. We’ve previously commented on the importance of not just scale and form in this effort to respect the past, but also on details so here in Rue Maurice Cornette we may see this amply displayed.

Above, just a few examples of roofscapes, an element absolutely vital to the pursuance of the ‘Bergues model’, with steep pitch (and more often than not, rooms within the roof), stepped gables on occasion, dormer windows, chimney stacks, eaves with box gutters, brick frieze below the gutter, etc…

…and none of it in soulless repetition as though off a production line but instead inventive and unquestionably of its time. Above, just a few examples of the bricklayers’ art used to splendid effect but this is complemented by judicious use of precast concrete elements too, such as the fine hood mould we see on the left.

At the junction of the Rue Maurice Cornette and Rue Lamartine, we stand at the beginning of a walk along two of Bergues’s finest streets, Rue Carnot and Rue Faidherbe.

Having now retraced our steps back through the Marché to Rue Maurice Cornette, past no.12 and just a little further on, we have come to the junction with Rue Carnot (1796-1832, Sadi Carnot was an engineer and physicist who specialized in improving efficiency in steam engines) on the left.

We are standing at the beginning of one of the streets that still today follows the line of the circular moat that defined the boundary of the medieval castrum of Baldwin II, the other streets being Rue Faidherbe, Rue Nationale and Rue Lamartine. It was only after further French invasion and destruction, and the resulting Treaty of Aachen (1668) which brought peace, that the town was able to rebuild and even expand, such that the old moat became redundant as a defence, with the new and repaired fortifications supervised by Vauban forming a better defensive cordon. The houses built on the inner circle side of these streets had the old moat at the bottom of their gardens until the moat was eventually covered over.

Let’s now take a leisurely stroll along the Rue Carnot.

No.40’s openings have arched segmented brick heads on the ground floor and flat to the first, the exact opposite to no.42 and there is further embellishment in the form of the sculpted keystones featuring heads of men to the ground floor openings, women to the first floor. The artist appears to have run out of ideas by the time he reached the first floor far-right window, where the keystone features greenery instead. Notice too how finely the façade is arranged to balance – while there are eight bays, they are arranged so that the first two on the left have ‘rhythm A’ while bays 3-5 and 6-8 have ‘rhythm B’, with the brick panels between these three ‘rhythms’ varying in width to suit. Very subtle. The dormer windows are equally carefully arranged to sit in harmony with the façade below.

In sharp contrast to all this, the heavy entrance door cannot be missed – rusticated brick piers each side with a stone pediment on top featuring a crown with coats of arms under. There is also a headstone featuring what might be a soldier wearing a helmet. The doors themselves have lower panels retaining elaborately worked motifs typical of the latter half of the eighteenth century, the door head is similarly ornate and the fanlight metalwork a wonder to behold. The little vents to the ground floor are a feature of many houses of this period but you won’t find any house in Bergues using the same design!

Keystones to the ground and first floor openings match those of no.40, only in that men occupy those to the ground floor, women those to the first. Look out for the character with a fine pair of pince-nez, amongst the others displaying anything from misery to buffoonery - this is the most entertaining collection in town. You may consider the entrance rather restrained amongst all this, but that is because the real entrance is round the back of the building. Here you’ll see a rather elegant stone staircase with two flights, one each side of the landing. An especially fine Regency-style wrought iron balustrade which in its delicacy stood in stark contrast to the building it belongs to, has vanished (2021), hopefully to return.

And just before we leave Rue Faidherbe, did you spot the very unusual fanlight of no.26? No? Go take a look!

If you’re interested, Rue Jean Mermoz has other fine buildings – take a look at nos. 1-17, all eighteenth-century (some with alterations).

Does Bergues deserve this?

In the heart of the historic old town? The developer - and, shamefully, the Mairie and the Département - would have done better to study the buildings constructed just after the Second World War as a precedent because, as I have argued, much of that 1950s-60s architecture took its design cues from the 16th and 17th century buildings that survived, thereby ensuring the new buildings would ‘fit’ within the town’s long-established built environment, thus preserving – and enhancing – its special character. And that was done without compromising architectural quality, at least in the majority of cases.

Some Bergues residents have made their opinions known on this proposal and those opinions are less than flattering with regard to the architectural concept. It is to be hoped that public pressure may yet secure a better, higher quality result but with demolition due to have started in 2020, time was running short and this writer fears the worst. There are, thankfully, only a few truly inappropriate buildings within the town walls (unfortunately, you can’t miss them) but it would be a sad day indeed were this particular proposal to be added to the list.

Bergues deserves better.

The number of market locations in the town is testimony to that status – Marché aux Fromages, Marché aux Volailles, Marché aux Pommes, Marché aux Poissons, Marché au Lin, Marché aux Bestiaux, Marché aux Chevaux. Every market had its ‘estaminet’ (Flemish for ‘bar’ or ‘coffee house’, usually a small and often shabby place where alcoholic drinks and coffee were sold) with the Marché aux Bestiaux alone having had no less than twelve to its name! The port area (where we are standing – the archway to the right of the taverne leads directly to the port) and the Bras de Décharge were no less well served, the taverne here being a surviving example; we’ve already seen its cousin Le Bruegel at the Pont Saint-Jean earlier. 17 Rue Espagnole, on the corner of the old Hondschoote port, was another (long closed). And no.28 in the same street, which we looked at earlier, was one too. While Bergues today is a bustling little town, it is really only on Mondays, when the market fills the Place de la République and the streets around, that one can experience at least something of what the town was like in its heyday.

Having reached the end of Rue du Port, we can now perform a ‘U’ turn and cross the bras via the bridge next to the town wall and then walk back to the Pont Saint-Jean via Quai de la Manutention, on our way to now see the most remarkable building in Bergues…

But while this building is indeed unique in Bergues and especially monumental, it is interesting to note how it still manages to ‘marry’ with much more modest buildings, many of which we’ve already seen. It does this firstly by being constructed largely of brick and secondly, although the building is conceived in a grand manner, it has the typical Bergues profile of two storeys and a pitched roof. The windows, although enormous, are the traditional Flemish ‘cross’ window we’ve seen before and the window cills are of brick, not the stone one would expect. And the walls have large although simple wrought iron anchors, another feature of many 16th, 17th and even 18th century buildings in the town.

The Mont de Piété as local Arts Centre?

In looking around the exterior, you will know that the Mont de Piété is a museum, housing mostly Flemish paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, arranged around four themes – the portrait, the female figure, religious painting and still life; there is also a natural history collection. It is also worth mentioning that the town council (October 2019) was keen to refurbish the building and is hoping to secure funding to install a lift, renew the electrical system, provide heating, etc etc. It is to be hoped that Bergues secures this money, as the building has five floors, of which only two are open to the public. It would indeed be good news were this splendid edifice to be given new life sufficient for it to fully use the space it has, thereby making it a far more attractive destination for exhibitions and events, boosting visitor numbers to Bergues and thereby also boosting the local economy.

Writing in September 2024, there is renewed hope that funds for renovation will be made available. Repairs being undertaken to the Mairie have necessitated the temporary removal of the town’s archives, some 26 tonnes of documentation dating back centuries. The question has arisen as to where the archives should be returned to, i.e. back to the Town Hall or alternatively, to the Mont-de-Piété. A study which has taken one year to complete has been undertaken by Bâtiments de France, which looks in detail at the building’s renovation and it is this study that has prompted the possibility of the archives being housed here. The renovation cost is stated as being around 4 million euros, a not inconsiderable sum, even if the Ministry of Culture provides a grant of 50%. It is to be hoped that the spur to get the renovation works done will be the necessity to rehouse the archives in what would be far better accommodation than that available at the Town Hall. But given the lamentable state of France’s economy, it is not at all certain that the money would come to Bergues until more prosperous times return and/or the country’s ballooning deficit is reduced.

The Mont de Piété deserves to be much better known!