The chapel of the Normandy college

From the college's opening in 1902 until the 1930s, students attended the village church for all religious services. The parish priest, Abbé Glatigny, also served as chaplain and a teacher at the college until 1938. The headmaster, Mr Dedet, dreamt of creating a dedicated place of worship, and a subscription was launched among the students' families. The diocesan authorities granted permission to build a chapel, on the condition that it remained accessible to village parishioners if the need arose.

A gardener’s cottage stood on the chosen site; it was demolished and its materials reused. A laundry room and a cellar—vestiges of an old St Julian’s chapel—were also pulled down.

The project was entrusted to the Rouen architect Pierre Chirol, who had already designed the church in Eslettes and would later be responsible for the post-war restoration of St Nicaise in Rouen. The construction was carried out by the Léon Lagnel firm from Bosc-le-Hard.

On 17 May 1930, Mgr Dubois de la Villerabel, Archbishop of Rouen, arrived to bless the foundation stone. The stone was carried in a procession from the "Petit Château" (now gone) to the building site. Four students—two Protestant and two Catholic—carried the litter bearing the heavy stone. Numerous dignitaries attended, including Mr Georges Leverdier, President of the Rouen Chamber of Commerce, and the writer Paul Toutain-Revel. The Archbishop returned to Mont-Cauvaire on 22 November 1931 to bless the completed building.

The five rose windows give this chapel an exceptional character. They were the result of a technique that was highly innovative for the time, being crafted from reinforced concrete. The Lagnel firm created the moulds right there on-site. Mr Dedet had imagined filling these rose windows with stained glass depicting biblical scenes with a sporting theme. In the end, they settled for coloured glass, which was subsequently blown out by bombs in 1944.

As Placide Alexandre wrote:

"The exposed timberwork, inspired by Nordic churches—with joinery at the choir entrance that is a minor masterpiece—is remarkable."

The white stone altar was surmounted by a large cross, behind which sat a gallery for the choristers.

In the early 1970s, the chapel remained the property of the college’s alumni, even as the estate was acquired by the Association Médico-Éducative Rouennaise, whose mission was to provide tailored education for children and adolescents with disabilities. The final ceremony held in the chapel was a wedding on 13 September 1975.

In the early 2000s, the building was saved from ruin when it was bought by a private individual and converted into a home.

Note: The chapel was granted partial listing on the French supplementary inventory of historic monuments in 1975.