Church Sold for 16s.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 31 July 1914, Page 8

Church Sold for 16s.

Anybody wfco has the occasion or leisure to travel in the French provinces, and the curiosity to inquire, must often be astonished at the number of deserted ecclesiastical buildings and the absurdly low prices asked for them, since the liquidation of church property. All records seem, however, to have been beaten by the sale of one of the oldest churches in France, at Clarefontaine, in the Seine-et-Oise department, for exactly sixteen shillings and ninepence halfpenny. Twelve years ago the church threatened to fall to pieces, -and the richer inhabitants privately subscribed for and built a new church, to which they took the doors, windows, and memorial tablets, including one over the porch, stating that the church was built in the year HOC " To the honour of God and Our Lady, by Simon Count de Montfort, son of Amulry 1., w ho was son of King Robert." When all tlfese had been taken away there was little left b\it the walls, and the authorities then offered the building for sale. It was knocked down to M. Plard, a contractor.