St. Anne's Church

Alderney, United Kingdom

St. Anne's Church is the only Anglican church in Alderney island. Built to the design of the famous English architect Sir George Scott, it is one of the finest Victorian buildings in the Channel Islands. The cost of the building was financed by Reverend Canon John Le Mesurier, son of the last Hereditary Governor of Alderney.

Consecrated in 1850 it is part of the Deanery of Guernsey and supervised by the Bishop of Winchester. Like much of the island, the church suffered from the German Occupation and was used as a general store during the war. A machine-gun post was set up in the belfry and the walls still display gunshot scars. As most of the pews were also removed, a considerable amount of restoration work had to be carried out and completed in 1953.

The church has six bells which are rung for Sunday services. The bells were removed by the Germans and four were sent to Cherbourg to be melted down for munitions. They were subsequently identified after the War and returned to the island. They together with the two bells remaining in Alderney, were sent to England for re-casting and then re-installed.

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Founded: 1850
Category: Religious sites in United Kingdom

More Information

www.islandlife.org

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5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

michel fey (4 years ago)
Nestor Vera (5 years ago)
Brian Oswald (5 years ago)
Lovely, quaint church
Rest & Pray (6 years ago)
Unceasing in prayer and helping the faithful! O Lord, who for our sake became poor, that we through your poverty might become rich; strengthen all those who, at your call and after your example, have left behind everything that they might take up the cross and follow you in the threefold way of poverty, chastity and obedience. through the consecration of their lives and the power of their prayers may your church be strengthened to be more perfectly conformed to your image; for you are alive and reign with the Father and the Spirit, one God, now and forever. AMEN
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