Saint Birgitta's chapel

Saint Birgitta's chapel (Swedish: Sankt Britas kapell) is located on the east coast of the island of Öland, Sweden, some four kilometers from the village of Bredsättra in Bredsättra socken, Borgholm Municipality, in a marshy area called Kapelludden.

The high roof probably created space for lodging pilgrims (that this was a pilgrimage church is suggested also by the dimensions of the nave[3]), and the church was surrounded by a wall, enclosing an area of 67 × 55 meters, including a cemetery.

[1] English traveler Horace Marryat visited the area and the church in the early 1860s ("a ruined chapel of grey stone – two peaked gables – a graceful ruin"), who recounts the legend of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter, landing in this spot with her child, the future Bridget of Sweden, after a shipwreck:[4] Ingeborg and her husband Birger Persson had gone on a pilgrimage to Kildare, to the remains of St. Brigit, and their ship sank off the Öland coast on the return voyage to Sweden.

A storm in 2007 blew over a neighboring shed, which in turn broke the cross in four pieces;[1] it was restored, reinforced with steel beams, in October 2007.

[6] According to Horace Marryat, local lore has it that the cross marks the spot where Bridget of Sweden first set foot on the island.