The former Methodist Chapel on Rue des Deslisles in Castel was bought by the Jee family, who run the Heritage Farm next door, for £700,000 in April 2022.
Now after three years of careful restoration the doors are open and the cavernous hall is open for yoga, dance, toddler groups, private parties and a plethora of community activities, including weddings.
Work has seen a new solid oak floor, a kitchen fitted in the old vestry, a new oak mezzanine level added with a toilet and baby changing facilities underneath and the large altar area pushed back to open up the hall.
‘We were keen to keep as much to the original feel of the building as possible,’ said Merrie Jee, daughter of farm owners Nicky and Nic, who is in charge of bookings. ‘The builders used as much of the original material as possible, such as re-purposing some of the old floorboards in the new pulpit.’
The Jees bought the farm from the States, who had purchased it less than three years before for £1m. as part of the aborted extension of Les Beaucamps High School.
This included the church hall and car park on the opposite side of the road which remains in States ownership.
In the intervening years it was used for archive storage.
‘I think a lot of people were really happy that we bought it and it wasn’t going to be knocked down or turned into flats,’ she said. ‘We actually gave away quite a few of the pews to members of the old congregation.
‘The building was structurally sound but just needed some TLC. It took us three years to get it ready to be hired out as we really wanted to get it right.’
The chapel was built in 1872, at a cost of £926 and 15 shillings, to replace a smaller chapel on the opposite side of the road.
It remained in use as a church for almost 150 years and was used as a soup kitchen during the Occupation until a few weeks before the island’s liberation, when the military authorities closed it down because it was feeding men as well as children – ‘a crime in the sight of the Germans’.
One thing that has not changed is the incredible organ that still dominates the back wall, built by Alfred Oldknow in 1890.
‘Apparently he was a good organ builder but a bad businessman and you can tell how well he was doing when he built different organs,’ she said. ‘The tuner said he must have been happy when he built this one.’
Fittingly the chapel’s first regular booking has come from a church group, with Made Free Ministries now hiring the space every Sunday.
‘It’s a fantastic building,’ said Pastor Glenn Le Page. ‘We are an independent church who were in Beaucamps school but were told it would be closed over Christmas and we were so happy to find this space. The space been renewed but still has the wonderful feel of the old chapel.’
You can find out more at www.heritagefarm.gg/deslisles-chapel.
