Basbellain / Belsonancum / Kierchen / Klirchen / Niederbesslingen

The Open Churches entry for the church of Saint-Michel in Basbelain [https://openchurches.eu/fr/edifices/saint-michel-1] [accessed 9 November 2021] notes that the present building dates from 1872 but that archaelogical digs prove there was a church here more than one thousand years ago ["depuis plus de 1000 ans"]; it also notes and illustrates a baptismal font of stone carved out of an original Roman commemorative column, therefore also more than a tousand years old ["fonts baptismaux en pierre, vieux de plus de 1000 ans"]. Pol Herman, on the other hand, writes (e-mail of 10 November 2021 to BSI): "I don’t think that the font of Basbellain is re-use of a roman object. The look and the shape resemble the nearby baptismal fonts made of ARKOSE sandstone. This type of font was frequent in the Haute-Ardennes and was studied by the local historian Henry d’Otreppe de Bouvette. D’Otreppe de Bouvette (Henry), Cuves baptismales “ romanes”en arkose, dans Glain et Salm, Haute Ardenne, N° 13, décembre 1980, pp. 75-81. D’Otreppe de Bouvette H., Cuves baptismales « romanes » en arkose (2e partie), in “Glain et Salm, Haute Ardenne”, n°46, p. 5-32, juin 1997. D’Otreppe de Bouvette H., Croix d’arkose en Haute Ardenne in “Glain et Salm, Haute Ardenne” n°71, novembre 2013. D’OTREPPE de BOUVETTE Henry, Découverte de fonds baptismaux romans à Rettigny (Cherain), in “Glain et Salm, Haute Ardenne” ,N°3, 1975, p.64. Although ouside of the Belgian borders, Basbellian is well within the area of distribution of Arkose fonts. [...] The Arkose fonts seem to block the diffusion of Mosan limestone fonts towards the east. Except for the presence of local arkose quarries, I don’t know what other causes might have played a role. Arkose fonts are undecorated and have a primitive look. Therefore, they are considered old. They are usually called romanesque. However Jean-Claude Ghislain warns about interpreting “primitive looks” as a mesure of age. In the mosan fonts, for example, compared to the quality of twelfth-century fonts, there is indication that some later stonemasons produced a degenerated type of fonts. The Ardennes, Middle, Upper or Lower, are located on a schist massif. This stone is exposed everywhere, so it is only natural that shale is used extensively. It is blue in the Salmian region, reddened by the action of iron ore in the Lienne valley or the Herbeumont region, purple towards the French side or Hennuyer. The schistose massif is strewn with arkose, especially in the Haute-Ardenne. And descending towards Condroz, mosan limestone gradually takes over. Arkose was quarried for thousands of years. It is a very hard, beige or pale grey stone composed of coarse quartz grains. This deposit is 400 million years old. To be called an “arkose”, a rock must contain at least 25% of feldspar, but this name is often used to designate any coarse sandstones found all along the base conglomerate. The stone becomes hard when it dries and is mainly used in the building sector, although it was also used to make funerary and religious objects and millstones. "