PAROISSE SAINT-CLAIR, QUERQUEVILLE

L'église Notre-Dame de Querqueville is where I attend Mass on Sundays.  Sometimes it is held in another church in Urville-Nacqueville which isn't as old and has more of a modern flair to it than Notre-Dame.  Notice how from this vantage point at the top of the hill one can see all of Querqueville.  In the distance is the rade de Cherbourg and digue de Querqueville.  Beside the main church is the 12th century Chapelle Saint-Germaine.

Excavations have revealed that the present chapel was built on older foundations dating back as far as the 9^th century.  Querqueville’s name comes from the Nordic word “Kerk,” meaning “church” and that of “Villa” (Frankish name) meaning “field.”  It can be deduced from evidence of an ancient necropolis around the old foundations that on this site a religious building of sorts existed even as early as the 7^th or 8^th century. 



Inside the church of Notre-Dame above the altar is the image of the virgin rising to Heaven during the assumption.

The church is noted for it's beautiful stained glass windows that cast a rainbow of colors throughout the nave on sunny days.