Until the 13th century, when the bay of the Somme silted up, the historical capital of Marquenterre was a busy sea port. Its first belfry was built at that time.
Rebuilt at the end of the Hundred Years War, it received its neo-Gothic additions in the 19th century, which significantly improved its original, somewhat rustic appearance. The stronghold of Rue was dismantled on Colbert’s orders. As a watch tower, the belfry should have suffered the same fate, but it owes its survival to its community status.
The aldermen in fact continued to meet there until the 19th century. The belfry has a dungeon in its largest turret, where graffiti scratched by prisoners can still be seen.
The ground floor opens onto the former room of the Justice of the Peace, decorated since 1902 by vast mural paintings illustrating rural life in Rue at the beginning of the 20th century, the work of a local artist.
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