HERMES (= Les Harmes)
Hermes lies on the D12 route south-east from Beauvais on the road to Mouy. It features relatively late in the de Croisettes story.
Florent de Croisettes, seigneur of Granville, Nainval, etc., man-of-arms, married Nicole de Piennes on the 6th November 1603. She was the daughter of Charles de Piennes, knight, seigneur of Rousseloy, Cambronne and Vaux, and of Susanne D’Oinville. Nicole had three children by Florent: René, Seigneur of Granville, and two daughters, Louise and Charlotte. Nicole gave a house at Hermes to her daughters on 26th May 1636. René married and left descendants who were still in France as Roman Catholics well into the 1700s, while Charlote was married off to Charles de Charpentier, with no record of descendants. Louise petered out in the record, maybe living out her days in Hermes.
Beyond this, the government website that displays and catalogues documents of national significance is a mine of information. There are 12 entries for Hermes. One shows that there was a Cistercian Abbey in the village, destroyed during the Revolution, and an old 'Grange' (which we failed to locate) still stands, going back to 1140 or so. There are 12 photographs of the church on this website, well worth looking at.
It seems from the Internet that the church bell tower is of interest. Here is a book available in the Amiens library: 908 MOR, Histoire de Clocher: Notice historique sur l'église de Hermes (Oise), Falluel-Moreau, Claudine/Moreau, Gérard, 1982, Résumé: Présentation et historique de l'église de Hermes.
The church is down by the river Thérain and has marvellous old Norman features built over and added to. The rest of the village sprawls along the river bank or climbs up the steep hill on the west side. It is a mite too convenient to Beauvais to have avoided the inevitable effects of traffic and unappetising elements.
Is
this the grange? Unlikely.
Is this the house given to the girls? Far too modern.
We left in a hurry for
Carville.