Church of St. Martin, Borschemich

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Church of St. Martin (Filialkirche St. Martinus) was a Roman Catholic church in Borschemich, Erkelenz, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours and built in Gothic Revival style from 1906 to 1907 to replace a much older medieval church nearby.

Built of brick, the church had a single nave with three bays, arch groin vaults, and a three-storey bell tower 35 meters high at the southern corner. It could seat about 150 people. The church was blessed on 27 October 1907 and consecrated for Saint Martin on 9 October 1915.

It suffered some damage in World War II and was repaired by 1950; a major exterior and interior renovation took place in 1982. In the 2010s, the village of Borschemich was demolished to make way for the Garzweiler lignite mine. A new, smaller church with the same dedication was built in Neu-Borschemich between 2013 and 2015.

RWE bought the Church of St. Martin in 2013, deconsecrated it on 23 November 2014, and began demolition on 15 February 2016. The sacristy and sanctuary were removed first, followed by the tower a few days later. Haus Paland was demolished in 2015 as well.