Community of Onville

around the year 1000, in the course of the Gorze Reform Movement, a restitution of former ecclesial possessions took place. The non-confessional private chapel of Saint-Rémi, which the Lord of the Manor of Saint-Rémi had bequeathed upon a family of important standing in the community of Onville, reverted to Gorze Abbey. In 1227, the knight Walter of Onville devised his entire estate to the abbey of Gorze and the parish of Saint-Rémi. The originally very modest chapel, undoubtedly, must have been enlarged at least once during the 9th century. Parts of the chapel burial grounds were populated with winemakers` houses in the middle ages, and these parts, most likely, have not changed all that much in appearance over the centuries. In the course of the 18th century, however, works were carried out on the terrain, accounting for the disappearance of some of the smaller houses situated further to the back of the land. The massive square belfry, built at the expense of the community, is the perfect example for a fortified bell tower of a medieval fortified church.