Origin of the Parish
A dismemberment of the parishes of Richebourg and Cuinchy is at the origin of the parish of Festubert: it was intended to give a bell tower to the seigneury of Richebourg-l'Avoué.
Former possession of the Abbey of Saint-Vaast, Richebourg indeed consisted of two parts: Richebourg-Saint-Vaast and Richebourg-l'Avoué, the latter having been obtained by the lords of Béthune from the religious of which they were the 'attorneys'. , that is to say the protectors.
But the church was on the Saint-Vaast part. However, under the old regime, the fate of lord of a steeple land was much more interesting than that of a land without a church. It is for these reasons that we took a piece of Richebourg and another of Cuinchy to transform the simple chapel of Festubert into a church.
The summary inventory of departmental archives prior to 1790 (volume III, Saint-Vaast abbey collection) contains on page 143 a letter from Dom Le Mayeur of 14 December 1762 explaining this dismemberment:
The princes of Bournonville, predecessors of these, possessed the villages of Cuincy and Neuve-Chapelle, which makes an extent of at least three leagues in length with Riquebourg-l'Avoué, the whole being joined; the princes of Bournonville or the Meluns placed their castle in the middle of Riquebourg-l'Avoué on a motte near the wood of said Riquebourg-l'Avoué, they needed a parish for the erection of the marquisate, one erected which is that of Festubert now located in Riquebourg-l'Avoué in the place of a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicolas, part of the parish of Cuincy was removed from the parish and another part from that of Riquebourg for the to give to the new parish, we also enclosed in this new parish the castle of the princes so that they would have the honors of the church in this new parish, not being able to have them in that of Riquebourg-Saint-Vaast: it is on this basis to what I think they obtained the erection of their Marquisate of Riquebourg during the time of Spain ...
Reconstruction
Nothing remained of the church before the 'Great War' of 14-18, the bombardments wiped out everything. The current church was therefore rebuilt after the war of 1914. It still suffered during the battles of the 2nd world war, fragments of bushes mark its facade.