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Origin and history

The Protestant temples of the Chiefresne, located in the commune of Percy-en-Normandie (formerly Le Chefresne), in the English Channel, are two religious buildings built in the early nineteenth century. Their history dates back to the Protestant Reformation, when local nobles adopted this religion in the 16th century. As early as 1553, a first Protestant church was built, followed by a temple built in the 1610s near the place called "the Guérin oak", after the edict of Nantes (1598). This temple was destroyed in 1678 on the orders of Louis XIV, and its materials were reused for the bell tower of the parish church in 1746.

After the Concordat of 1801, the Protestants reorganized themselves, and a first temple was erected between 1817 and 1824 at the place called "the Neufbourg". This small, rectangular building is built in stoneware and covered with slate. In 1842, under the impetus of Pastor Eugène Sabattier, a more ambitious project was launched: the construction of a large 400-seat temple, a presbytery and a school. The plans, initially entrusted to architect Lemercier, were revised downwards in 1850, but the works were abandoned in 1856, for lack of funding, after the pastor's death.

The presbytery, built in 1845 thanks to the financing of Felix Samson-La Valesquerie, remains, while the great temple remains unfinished, raised only to the height of the windows. Both temples, as well as the adjacent Protestant cemetery (established in 1612 and acquired in 1789), have been listed as historical monuments since 2006. This set illustrates the history of Protestantism in Normandy, marked by periods of persecution and rebirth.

The temples of the Chiefresne are representative of 19th-century Protestant religious architecture, mixing simplicity and untapped ambition. Their preservation offers a unique testimony to Protestant memory in this region, where reformed communities played a significant social and cultural role despite historical vicissitudes.

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