It's been a long month or so without any exploring, due to a second lockdown imposed in the UK, but it felt great to finally get out and about again and make tracks to a far away location I had wanted to see, and indeed had made plans to see, for at least the last few months.

This tiny little building is something of an enigma at first glance, a single room chapel no bigger than a large garden shed buried deep in a patch of woodland, fronted by imposing iron gates. It's the sort of thing that makes you wonder 'how?' and 'why?', and it does indeed have an interesting back story.

Despite it's appearance, the chapel was built relatively recently in 1974. It was built by a Czechoslovakian former forester who escaped the persecution of Nazi Germany first in his home country, then Poland and through various other countries, ultimately making it to England. In the early 1970s he purchased a 10 acre forest which he would stay at during the weekend and holidays, living in a caravan in the middle of the woodland, and in 1974 constructed the shrine, using materials donated by well-wishers or acquired himself, on part of an old Roman road that crossed the forest. It was officially dedicated in 1974 and opened to the public for worship in 1983, in more recent times it held an annual mass once a year but this stopped some time ago.

The building, despite being so small, has a certain enigmatic, very spiritual feel to it. Sat all alone in the forest it does give off a mystical presence among the trees.

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Thanks for looking

Very cool, it reminds me more of something you'd see in a fantasy novel than anything else. I love it.

In love with this. Too cool.

That's incredible. I love the organ and the door. Thanks for sharing.

Interesting, thank you for adding the history of the building too! Amazing photos!

Might be my favorite location so far. Great pics.