St James (formerly known as St James-the-Less) is a former church in

Saint Peter Port St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. ...

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

. After falling out of use, it was converted in 1985 and is now used as a concert and assembly hall. It stands on College Street, roughly opposite Elizabeth College.

History

In October 1815 Admiral James de Saumarez suggested the idea of building a church for use by the British garrison based in

where services could be held in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

(as against French in other island churches). The church was designed by John Wilson and completed by 1818, at a cost of nearly £7,000. Sketched in 1832 by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbul ...

. Used as a chapel by nearby Elizabeth College. In 1970 the church became redundant and started to decay until in 1981 ''The Friends of St James'' association was formed to restore and manage the building. The

States of Guernsey The States of Guernsey (french: États de Guernesey), sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guer ...

agreed to pay for this restoration in 1983 and the building was officially re-opened on 5 July 1985 by the Duke of Kent. The restoration of the building winning a

Civic Trust Award The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...

in 1986. In 2002 the Dorey Centre, comprising meeting rooms, café and administration offices, were completed, which gave the centre additional facilities such as exhibition space and to cater for formal dinners and weddings. The gallery was chosen to house the Guernsey Millennium Tapestry.

Features

* Whittaker Hall with superb acoustics for concerts, can accommodate 576 people in theatre style seating or 217 for dinners * Dorey Room can seat 90 people * Founders Room can seat 35 * Walter Room, boardroom * Rothschild Room, boardroom * Café St James * Bailiwick of Guernsey Millennium Tapestry

References

{{Coord, 49, 27, 24.3, N, 2, 32, 20, W, display=title Infrastructure completed in 1818 Buildings and structures in Saint Peter Port Churches in Guernsey Tourist attractions in Guernsey Entertainment in Guernsey Former churches in the United Kingdom

History

Features

See also

References