A journey to Orkney, a story of why Italian prisoners of war built a chapel and how it became a symbol of hope.
It takes a long time to get here.
Leave a city and escape the central belt suburbs. Follow the rivers Tay and Tummel as they bend through the steep wooded hills and rocky outcrops of Perthshire. Slide past the surly Grampian mountains, streaked with the last remnants of winter snow.
Change at Inverness, the last city heading north. Take a battered train that sways around rolling hills, inlets, lochs, farms and countless sheep. The landscape blazes with yellow and orange gorse. Pass the oil rigs of the Cormarty Forth and the whisky distilleries.
This is slow travel. At one point, for the want of a bridge, the railway has to head west to follow the Dornoch Forth whilst the road traffic rushes onwards to the north. It adds 45 mins to the timetable. Wonderful for the slow travellers and those in the tiny settlements connected by the line.
Stop at lonely stations dwarfed by the Flow Country wilderness. Kildonan, Altnabread, Scotscalder and Forsinard.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop—only the name
Adlestrop, Edward Thomas
Blanket bog as far as the eye can see, with hardly a dwelling in sight. Unlike Adlestrop, they forgot to close these stations down. Too far north for anyone to come.
Beyond the Highlands, catch the Orkney ferry and sail through a fog over a sea that is still and tinged with green (a blessed passage for these seas can be rough). The cliffs of St Johns Head and the Old Man of Hoy loom out of the fog, towering over the ferry as it slips by.
Take a bus through the open expanses of treeless farmland and sea to the small uninhabited island of Lamb Holm. Finally, you are here, the chapel built by Italians on a windswept and rainy Scottish island.
It’s both remote and connected. The Orkneys may take some time to travel to and it may on the edge of Europe. Yet its location was once at the centre of old Scandinavian empires and its principal towns and ports are busy with ferries, cruise ships and trade. Its soils are fertile, the population is over 20,000 and there is a beautiful, Romanesque and ancient cathedral. We travelled through far more remote parts of Scotland to get here.
The men who built the Italian Chapel
In 1942, 550 Italian prisoners of war (POWs) were transported from the heat of the North African desert to the freezing winter cold of Orkney.
They were put to work on constructing the Churchill Barriers, four causeways built as naval defences to protect the navy’s anchorage at Scapa Flow. Since the war, the causeways have served as road links between the islands.
The Italians made creative improvements to their camp of thirteen cheerless huts. They made concrete paths and planted flowers. They built a theatre with scenery and a recreation hut with a concrete billiard table. They made trinkets from old scrap which they sold or gave as gifts. Some crafted toys for the local children. It is said that POW crafts are still treasured possessions in many Orkney families.
Nonetheless, life was harsh and dull for the Italian POWs. They were free to roam the island as there was no chance of escape. Food and accommodation were basic and they were expected to work long hours except for the short winter days. They were far from home, lonely and cut off from their families by war.
“Nights were our worst enemy. Long nights when thoughts went back home to those we loved. Bad news from home, that somehow reached us, was cause of deep depression that no entertainment could ease. Only thinking of something more nobler, more elevated, could we find inner peace and hope. So the tiny chapel came gradually into existence.”
Bruno Volpi, POW Camp 60, Lamb Holm.
Fulfilling a spiritual need
In 1943, the prison camp commander, Major Thomas Pyres Buckland, and Father Gioacchino Giacobazzi, the camp’s Catholic priest, agreed that a chapel could be built.
Two Nissen huts were joined end-to-end. Balfour Beatty donated concrete and a local Orkney artist donated paintbrushes and paint. Domenico Chiocchetti, an artist amongst the prisoners, and a group of tradesmen transformed the huts into a chapel. The corrugated interior was covered with plasterboard and the altar and altar rail were constructed from concrete left over from work on the barriers. Chiocchetti used the image on the card of the Madonna and Child by Nicolo Barabino to base his painting above the altar.
The Italians were ingenious in using scant resources. Wood was repurposed from a shipwreck. The light holders were made out of corned beef tins. The baptismal font was made from the inside of a car exhaust covered in a layer of concrete.
Giuseppe Palumbi, a blacksmith from Teramo, built an ornate wrought iron sanctuary screen. He left a message for a young Orkney woman. On the floor by the gates of the sanctuary screen is the shape of a heart.
The war ends, the chapel is nearly destroyed
The chapel was only in use for a short time before the prisoners were moved south to Yorkshire in September 1944. Chiocchetti remained on the island to finish decorating the chapel before joining the others in Yorkshire. In February 1946, he was repatriated to Italy.
Meanwhile, the Italian Chapel was nearly lost. A local islander, Thomas Thomson, was tasked with the demolition of Camp 60. Thomson couldn’t bring himself to destroy such a holy place. He spoke to his men who all felt the same. He approached his boss and was told, to his relief, that they could leave the chapel. The chapel and the nearby St George statue stood alone in the fields as the rest of the camp disappeared.
The chapel avoided destruction but went into decline. It was open to the elements as sheep wandered in and out. The local landowner, Sutherland Graeme, realised that a plan was needed to save the chapel. Along with his daughter, they formed the Chapel Preservation Committee and, in 1960, Chiocchetti, returned to Orkney and restored the chapel.
Since then there has been a strong friendship between Orkney and Moena in Italy, the home of Chiocchetti with return visits by some of the former POWs and their families.
The chapel has become one of Orkney’s most famous and loved landmarks. It’s easy to see why its poignant story strikes a chord with so many. It’s not just the incongruous and intriguing sight of an Italian chapel on a faraway Scottish island. It’s about how friendship and healing can come out of war. How expression and purpose can come out of adversity and want. How the human spirit can be wealthy with so little and free whilst imprisoned.
After restoring the chapel Chiocchetti wrote an open letter to the people of Orkney.
“My work at the chapel is finished…The chapel is yours – for you to love and preserve…I shall remember always, and my children shall learn from me to love you.”
No wonder tens of thousands come every year to pay tribute to a tiny chapel that represents a better vision of our humanity. It is a symbol of hope. It is a gift, made by Italians and looked after by Orcadians.
Further information
A fascinating and detailed history of the Italian Chapel is available on the Orkneyology website.
Flow Country – the most intact and extensive blanket bog system in the world.
Far North Line – information on the overlooked but atmospheric railway line from Inverness to Thurso and Wick.
NorthLink ferries sail between Scrabster and Orkney.
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