Mont-Saint-Éloi: a very French village that has a British mayor

Located 45 minutes south-west of Lille, Mont-Saint-Éloi (population 1,022) is perched on a hill with fabulous views across the Scarpe Valley.

Surrounded by woodland, the little roads that lead to the village are lined with charming white-stone cottages and small farms, but it is best known for the two towers of a ruined abbey that can be seen for miles around.

Maureen Searle, 71, grew up in Oxfordshire and lived in various countries with her English husband Michael, before they moved to Mont-Saint-Éloi in 2000. Maureen joined the local council and eventually became a French citizen and the village’s mayor in 2026.

“What interested me was being able to do something for my village,” she explains.

“It’s a huge privilege. They’ve put their trust in a British woman to manage projects in France. It’s a truly beautiful village, a little gem that must be protected and showcased. We love it.”

Imposing abbey ruins

Various legends surround the Abbaye du Mont Saint-Éloi. It is said that a church was initially built here in AD 930 to mark the spot where Saint Éloi once came to pray, three centuries before.

In 1140, Abbot Hugues raised the walls of the abbey enclosure, then, between 1208 and 1221, the church was rebuilt in the Gothic style by Abbot Désiré, and it stood for 529 years, becoming one of the biggest abbeys in Hauts-de-France.

Following the French Revolution, in 1792 the abbey was closed and pillaged, and on 9 April 1793, it was sold for 308,500 livres (the equivalent of €10 million today). Its buildings were demolished, with many of the stones being reused to build homes in the village.

Only the front towers of the abbey church – once 53 metres tall – now remain, and these were saved by the state and the council in 1836, although they were once again at risk a few decades later. In the First World War, locals used the towers as lookout posts, so they were bombed by the Germans and the abbey’s upper level was destroyed.

In 1921, the abbey towers were listed as historic monuments, preserved in their ruined state and reinforced to ensure that their imposing silhouette continues to watch over the landscape. Owned by the Département du Pas-de-Calais since 2008, the abbey towers are simply part of the landscape for the locals, a reassuring landmark that shows they are close to home.

Cycling opportunities

The steep paths of Mont-Saint-Éloi are ideal for cycle racing, and the village hosts various events, including the annual Boucle de l’Artois, which covers a punishing 189.3km.

It is also part of the Parcours Mémoire Arras-Mont-Saint-Éloi, a more moderate 47km cycle route open to everyone, taking around 3½ hours and encompassing Arras, the Canadian Memorial in Vimy, the national necropolis of La Targette and the German cemetery at La Maison Blanche.

Military history

Mont-Saint-Éloi was occupied by German troops in the Second World War, and you’ll notice a monument between the abbey and the village cemetery that pays tribute to 57 soldiers of the 4th Motorised Dragoon Regiment, killed while attempting to halt the German invasion in 1940.

The municipal cemetery is the final resting place of Kenneth Weeks, a Francophile American writer who enlisted in the Foreign Legion and was killed in action in 1915. 

About 1.5km south-west of the village centre, at the foot of the hill, you’ll find the hamlet of Ecoivres, home to a military cemetery and the graves of another 2,400 soldiers who fell during the First World War.