The Petit-Quevilly temple was built on a centred plan. It was a dodecahedron about 30m long and maximum 22m high, lighted by 60 double windows, with a skylight on each side. It was built from 1600 on and completed in 1601. It had no pillars inside, the whole woodwork rested on a central keystone.

A three-tiered tribune featured on all twelve sides; the pews in the centre and along the twelve sides enabled worshippers to focus on the pastor’s pulpit and the building to hold large congregations, up to 6000 people.

[1]On 6th June 1685, the year that King Henry IV revoked the Edict of Nantes the Parliament of Rouen condemned the Temple of Quevilly and all exercise of the Reformed faith was prohibited in Rouen.

The destruction of the Temple commenced that day and it was demolished down to its very foundations. However, what could not be destroyed was the faith of the Protestants of Rouen, for that would endure. The place where they worshipped might be razed to its foundation, but the foundation of their lives remains, and their memory endures. The edifice that served as their meeting place might be gone, and they may have fled from Rouen, but the record of their lives there persists, and their posterity has survived and increased, and remembers them.

They will not be forgotten, and their memory shall endure forever.”

 

[1] History of the Temple at Quevilly’, Rouen. By Chris Shelley. Chris has been very helpful by explaining some of the French terms in translated documents and kindly researched to determine the name of one of our early ancestors.