The Little Chapel

Guernsey's Little Chapel is a real gem, tucked away in the grounds of Blanchelande Girls College and run by a charitable trust.  It dates from 1914, and was built by Brother Déodat as a replica of the church at Lourdes - but in miniature, and decorated with bits of broken pottery and sea shells!  It is possible to stand up inside the chapel - certainly for someone who is vertically challenged like me - but it starts to get very cosy when there are more than two people inside.  On this occasion there were several French visitors who were clearly making a pilgrimage to the chapel.

Quite a challenge photographically, as there certainly wasn't room in the chapel for a photographer and a tripod!

The Little Chapel

I know it's a cliché that, when one is a child, everything seems bigger than it really is; and, revisiting a location as an adult results in everything looking rather small.  Well, I'm pleased to say that I've found the exception which proves the rule: the Little Chapel seemed absolutely tiny when I was 8, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to stand up inside it.  More than that, there was room for me, my camera bag and tripod, and several other people who wanted to get in the way of 30 second HDR exposures!

My memory from 1968 was that the chapel was completely covered in sea shells.  While there are some shells used for decoration, the majority of the surface - both inside and out - is actually made from pieces of broken pottery.  Based on some of the comments from other visitors who seemed to be knowledgeable about such things, the bits of pottery had come from all over Europe.

Despite having to run the gauntlet of all the visitors, I did manage to take a few shots inside the chapel.

A rather strange place, all told, but clearly one which has a lot of significance to some people considering all the pieces of paper and assorted offerings left by its many visitors.

More information about the Little Chapel can be found here.