St. Martin Tower

St. Martin Tower, locally known as Tour Saint Martin, is situated on a hill above the town of Comblain-au-Pont, in the province of Liège in the Wallonia region in Belgium.

The first building at this site was a church built in the 11th or 12th century. In the early 13th century, when the region was torn by armed conflicts, this church was demolished and a castle was built here. This castle, built out of local sandstone rubble work, had a square keep protected by rectangular ramparts.

At the end of the 13th century, or possibly a little later, when peace had returned to the region, the castle was demolished and rebuilt as a church again. The keep of the castle escaped demolition and was used as the church tower.

In the 1852 this church was taken out of use because the villagers thought access to the church was too difficult for the sick and elderly. The church was then torn down with exception of the keep. A local priest; Bodson, restored the keep in its present form. He also rebuilt the present ramparts which followed the trace of the original ramparts. The area inside the walls and around the keep was used as a graveyard.

At present the graveyard is freely accessible during daytime. When I visited the keep was closed. I don't know if its interior can be visited. Due to the beautiful old graveyard the site has a lot of atmosphere and from here you have a nice view over the village below. In the village you can also find Montuy Tower.

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