St. Peter's Anglican Church Château-d'Oex · Serving the English-speaking Community Since 1899

History of English Churches in Switzerland – Chandolin

On Sunday 5 September 1982 the Reformed parish of Sierre and district held its autumn gathering at Chandolin, high above the Val d’Anniviers. The parish covers the whole valley, and that day it gave a new name to the small chapel near the Grand Hôtel. Until then it had been known as the English chapel. The Journal de Sierre explained the change in its issue of the Friday before. The chapel had been built “in the great days of English tourism, when ladies and gentlemen came up from the valley on muleback”, and consecrated for Anglican worship. Now more French, Dutch and German was spoken there than English, so there was no longer any reason to call it the chapelle anglaise. From that Sunday it would be the chapelle des Daillettes.1

The hotel and its chaplains

The chapel owed its existence to the hotel. According to the hotel’s own history, the Swiss mountain guide and hotelier Pierre Pont (1831–1912) began building the Grand Hôtel de Chandolin in 1893. It was designed by the Vevey architect Louis Henry Maillard. Up to fifty workmen were employed on the site, with forty mules to carry the materials up from the valley. The work took four years, and the hotel opened in 1897.2 In the summer of 1898 Pont advertised it in the Tribune de Genève as a new health resort at 2,000 metres, “without rival, which everyone ought to know”. He signed the advertisement as the owner of the Hôtel Bella Tola at St-Luc as well.3

The chapel followed the guests. Paul Schniewind, the historian of the Anglican church in Switzerland, records that Chandolin was placed on the chaplaincy list of the Colonial and Continental Church Society in 1896. He adds that a gift of land for a chapel was received in March 1897, while the hotel was being finished.4 The Val d’Anniviers tourism office dates the chapel to 1896–97, and says it was built close to the hotel for guests who were “almost exclusively English and Anglican”.5 We have found no report of its building in the Swiss papers of those years, and no record of a dedication to a saint.

The Society’s lists name some of the clergymen who came, each for a month of the summer. In July 1898 it sent the Revd J. J. Scully to Chandolin. In 1913 the Revd H. E. Maddox took the services in July, and the Revd B. W. Isaac, vicar of St Michael’s, Ipswich, in August.6 Schniewind records one later fact about the chaplaincy. In 1923 the Society claimed the right of appointment, which is the right to choose the chaplain.7

The chapel changes hands

Pont’s son Marc took over the hotel in 1937 and sold it in 1971.8 The Church of England, meanwhile, stopped using the chapel. By 1982 the Journal de Sierre could say that it had had no use for it for a long time. Paul Schniewind records that the Swiss Reformed Church bought it in 1975. The paper tells it differently. The Church of England, it wrote, handed the chapel to the Reformed Church on condition that the Reformed Church restore it, and this was done in stages. The paper gives no year for the handover, and we have not been able to settle the difference.9

The building needed the work. The Journal de Sierre told in 1982 how it had fallen “sadly into decrepitude”. According to the same report, the roof was renewed in 1950 on the initiative of Pastor Pasche. Later, youth camps in 1974 and 1975 provided “the labour and the enthusiasm needed to restore the house of God”.10 In September 1976 the Reformed parish of Sierre announced a parish festival at Chandolin to mark the restoration. It was to open on the evening of Saturday 4 September with a concert of early music by the Ensemble Cantabile of Geneva. A thanksgiving service at ten the next morning would be followed by a picnic and a barbecue. The renovated chapel was dedicated that year to serve Protestant visitors to the region in summer and winter. The parish’s notices that year list services in the chapel at nine o’clock from 4 July to 22 August, and another on Sunday 26 December.11

A new name

Six years later came the renaming. Reporting on the Tuesday after, the Journal de Sierre confirmed that the chapelle anglaise was now officially the chapelle des Daillettes. Among those it named were Jean Aeberhard, president of the Protestant parish of Sierre, Pastor de Haller and Ulysse Zufferey, president of the commune of Chandolin. The report also mentions a panel carved in arolla pine by André Pont.12 Every later source that calls the building the chapelle des Daillettes is using the name of 1982. The tourism office uses it too, for the chapel of 1896–97.5

In 2013 Albin Salamin wrote captions for photographs of the chapel on the Swiss heritage site notreHistoire.ch. In the days of the hotel’s splendour, he wrote, it had served for Anglican ceremonies. Now Protestant worship was offered there several times a year, and services were held for groups staying at the hotel. It was also used for private ceremonies. And he admired “a magnificent wooden ceiling, like an upturned boat”.13 The chapel is not listed in the commune of Anniviers’ inventory of its built heritage. Its Chandolin entries record the church of Sainte-Barbe and the old chapel that is now the Espace Ella Maillart.14

We would like to know more about when the chapel was built, who paid for it and whether it was dedicated to a saint. We would also like to know who its chaplains were after 1913, and when it passed to the Reformed Church. If you can help, please write to us at info(a)stpeters.ch. Another English church in the Valais, which a hotel owner agreed to build for his English visitors, is described on our page on Arolla. Why Victorian visitors wanted their own Sunday services in the Alps is told in The English experience of the Alps. The other English churches are described in our guide to the English churches in Switzerland.

  1. “La chapelle des Daillettes, vous connaissez?”, Journal de Sierre, vol. 68 no. 70, Friday 3 September 1982 (e-newspaperarchives.ch JDS19820903-01.2.9.10), OCR text: “Elle fut construite aux grandes heures du tourisme anglais, alors que ladies and gentlemen montaient de la vallée à dos de mulet, et consacrée au culte anglican. … Il n’y avait dès lors plus de raison de l’appeler encore chapelle anglaise; on y parle en effet plus français, néerlandais ou allemand qu’anglais… Aussi la paroisse réformée de Sierre et environs, qui couvre également tout le val d’Anniviers, va-t-elle, lors de sa journée d’automne ce dimanche 5 septembre, lui donner un nouveau nom: chapelle des Daillettes.” The translations on this page are ours. The renaming was reported as done on 7 September (note 12). ↩

  2. Le Grand Hôtel Chandolin, “History”, legrandhotelchandolin.ch/en/historie: “The Swiss mountain guide and hotelier Pierre Pont (1831–1912) began building the Grand Hotel Chandolin in 1893. It was planned by the architect Louis Henry Maillard from Vevey. Up to 50 workers were employed on the building site. They were supported by 40 mules … After a construction period of four years, the hotel opened in 1897.” The notreHistoire.ch entry gzaY29q4Wvd agrees on 1893 and 1897. Pont’s dates of birth and death come from the hotel’s page alone. ↩

  3. Advertisement, La Tribune de Genève, Thursday 14 July 1898, p. 5 (e-newspaperarchives.ch TDG18980714-04.2.40.1), OCR text: “CHANDOLIN ANNIVIERS (Valais). - HOTEL CHANDOLIN. — Altitude: 2000 mètres. Nouvelle station climatérique et sans rivale que chacun doit connaître. Ouverte le 1er juin 1898. — Même propriétaire: Hôtel Bella Tola St-Luc. Pierre Pont.” The altitude is the hotel’s own figure. “Ouverte le 1er juin 1898” is most likely the opening date of that season, a common formula in such advertisements, rather than the hotel’s first opening. ↩

  4. Paul W. Schniewind, Anglicans in Switzerland (Berne, 1992), p. 109. We have not found either fact in another source. The Society’s list for June 1896 does not name Chandolin, but that list is a selection and not complete: Bristol Times and Mirror, 2 June 1896, p. 6 (BNA BL/0000984/18960602), reprinting The Times. ↩

  5. Val d’Anniviers tourism office, “Grand Hôtel”, valdanniviers.ch/tourism/post-grand-hotel.html: “In 1896-1897, close to the hotel an ‘English chapel’ was built, called the Chapelle Les Daillettes. The chapel was designed for hotel guests, almost exclusively English and Anglican.” A search of the Swiss press for 1895–1900 found only hotel advertisements and nothing about the chapel. ↩↩

  6. The Record, 1 July 1898, p. 10 (British Newspaper Archive BL/0006265/18980701), read on the page image: “J. J. Scully, to Chandolin”; London Evening Standard, 3 July 1913, p. 11 (BNA BL/0000183/19130703), read on the page image: “Chandolin, Rev. H. E. Maddox”; The Record, 1 August 1913, p. 730 (BNA BL/0006265/19130801), read on the page image: “Chandolin”, “Rev. B. W. Isaac”, “V. of St Michael, Ipswich”. Crockford’s Clerical Directory (1929) records Bryan William Isaac as vicar of St Michael’s, Ipswich, from 1912 to 1915. Scully’s and Maddox’s forenames are not known. ↩

  7. Schniewind, p. 109. He gives the same claim, in the same year, for Binn (p. 109) and the Riffelberg above Zermatt (p. 113). ↩

  8. notreHistoire.ch, entry gzaY29q4Wvd: “His son, Marc took over the management of the hotel in 1937 and sold it in 1971.” ↩

  9. Schniewind, p. 109, “In 1975 the Swiss Reformed Church bought the chapel”. Journal de Sierre, 3 September 1982 (note 1): “Depuis longtemps, l’Eglise d’Angleterre n’a plus l’usage de cette chapelle. Aussi l’a-t-elle remise à l’Eglise réformée, à charge pour celle-ci de la restaurer, ce qui fut fait en plusieurs étapes.” The report of 7 September 1982 (note 10), which we have not yet transcribed in full, names the receiving body as the Eglise réformée évangélique du Valais, and says the handover had happened “depuis belle lurette”, long before. A search of the Swiss press for 1972–1977 found no report of a sale or a handover. ↩

  10. “La chapelle anglaise devient officiellement: chapelle des Daillettes”, Journal de Sierre, Tuesday 7 September 1982 (e-newspaperarchives.ch JDS19820907-01.2.22): “tombera malheureusement en décrépitude”; “des camps de jeunes apporteront la main d’œuvre et l’enthousiasme nécessaire à la réfection de la maison de Dieu”. We have transcribed only these two short passages of the report. The roof of 1950, Pastor Pasche and the years of the youth camps come from our reading of the rest of it, which we have not yet checked word for word. ↩

  11. Advertisement of the Reformed parish of Sierre, Journal de Sierre, Friday 3 September 1976, p. 8 (e-newspaperarchives.ch JDS19760903-01.2.52.1), OCR text: “Fête paroissiale à Chandolin (chapelle anglaise) à l’occasion de la restauration de la chapelle : Samedi 4 septembre à 20.00 heures Concert de musique ancienne par l’Ensemble «Cantabile» de Genève … Dimanche 5 septembre à 10.00 Culte d’action de grâces. Pique-nique, grillades.” Journal de Sierre, 3 September 1982 (note 1): “La chapelle rénovée a été dédicacée en 1976 pour accueillir en saison d’été et d’hiver les touristes protestants de la région.” Service notices in the Journal de Sierre, 2 July 1976 (JDS19760702-01.2.24.6), “CHANDOLIN du 4.7 au 22.8, chapelle anglaise à 9 h.”, and 24 December 1976 (JDS19761224-01.2.24.4), “Chandolin Dimanche 26 décembre à 10 heures, chapelle anglaise.” We have seen these two notices only as search extracts. ↩

  12. Journal de Sierre, 7 September 1982 (note 10). The report also says “Un premier baptême a été consacré ce dimanche”. The passage plays on the idea of renaming the chapel, and it is not clear whether a child was baptised, so we leave it out. ↩

  13. Albin Salamin, “Chapelle - Les Daillettes”, notreHistoire.ch, 8 October 2013 (entry Kj4BXq2P8ym): “Petite chapelle près du Grand Hôtel de Chandolin, cette chapelle servait au temps de la splendeur de l’Hôtel, pour les cérémonies anglicanes. Actuellement le culte évangélique est proposé plusieurs fois par an. Elle permet également la célébration du culte en fonction des groupes présents à l’Hôtel. Un magnifique plafond de bois, comme une barque retournée!” The entry adds an older picture, captioned “Et hier, au début du XXème siècle, sans les arbres”, and carries the credit “Photo Michel Savioz”. Albin Salamin, “Chapelle - Les Daillettes - 2”, notreHistoire.ch, 8 October 2013 (entry aZnYJ7eVBok): “Ancienne chapelle anglicane près du Grand Hôtel de Chandolin, sert aujourd’hui pour des cérémonies privées ou pour le culte protestant.” Michel Savioz, “Chapelle anglaise”, notreHistoire.ch, 7 July 2013 (entry 49a8VpZrYnv), from the Collection Olivier Grandjean. The first entry gives the address as Daillettes, 3961 Chandolin, and the second as Scandula, 3961 Chandolin. These are captions by contributors, and they describe the chapel as it was in 2013. ↩

  14. Commune d’Anniviers, Inventaire du patrimoine bâti, Chandolin, both volumes, the “Inventaire des ensembles de valeurs” and the “Fiches et photos” (anniviers.org/fr/inventaires-patrimoine-bati-308.html), consulted in July 2026. Neither mentions the chapel. In the second volume the Grand Hôtel is mentioned only in the entry for the old post office. ↩

Questions answered

Why is there an English chapel at Chandolin?
Because of a hotel. According to the hotel's own history, the mountain guide and hotelier Pierre Pont began building the Grand Hôtel de Chandolin in 1893, to a design by the Vevey architect Louis Henry Maillard, and it opened in 1897. The Val d'Anniviers tourism office dates the chapel to 1896–97 and says it was built close to the hotel for guests who were almost exclusively English and Anglican. In 1982 the Journal de Sierre recalled that it had been built in the great days of English tourism, when ladies and gentlemen came up from the valley on muleback.
What is the chapelle des Daillettes at Chandolin?
It is the former English chapel, under a name it has only carried since 1982. Until then it was known as the chapelle anglaise. The Reformed parish of Sierre and district gave it the new name at its autumn gathering on Sunday 5 September 1982. The Journal de Sierre explained that more French, Dutch and German was now spoken there than English.
What happened to the English chapel at Chandolin?
The Church of England stopped using it. Paul Schniewind records that the Swiss Reformed Church bought the chapel in 1975. The Journal de Sierre tells it differently: the Church of England handed the chapel to the Reformed Church on condition that the Reformed Church restore it, which was done in stages. The paper gives no year for the handover. A thanksgiving service for the restoration was announced for Sunday 5 September 1976, and the renovated chapel was dedicated that year to serve Protestant visitors in summer and winter.
Does the English chapel at Chandolin still stand?
It was standing in 2013, near the Grand Hôtel at Les Daillettes. Captions posted that year on notreHistoire.ch said that it was used for Protestant worship several times a year, for private ceremonies and for services for groups staying at the hotel. It is not listed in either volume of the commune of Anniviers' built-heritage inventory.