It is believed that the origin of the Anglican church in Versailles may go back to the purchase of a plot of land in 1710 by the then British Ambassador to the court of Louis XIV.

There are notes written by former chaplains that a chapel was built for the British Ambassador to the Court of Louis XIV on land purchased from the Abbe Dubois in 1710.

Where this land was in Versailles is not clear, though a reference has been found to the existence of a ‘Chapelle Anglicane ’ at 31, avenue de St Cloud.

The oldest document we have is the Church Register for 1814, which records the death of a British prisoner of war, Brecon Williams, "at midday of the 7th February at the hospital in this town".

The entries for 1815 refer to relatives of military personnel, mainly from His Britannic Majesties 71st Regiment of Foot, which became The Highland Light Infantry, and formed part of the ‘army of occupation’ camped near to Versailles after the Battle of Waterloo.

[2] There are no records to show where the church was worshipping but on 24 May 1821 members of the ‘British Colony’ were given permission by the Minister of the Interior, in a letter to the Prefect, to allow the practice of the ‘culte Anglicane’ in an abandoned Royal Oratory.

Formerly, this had formed part of the garden of the Cardinal de Bouillon, who fell out of favour with Louis XIV and had his estates confiscated.

The king used the land for his troops and built military manufacturing units on it which included a bakery to supply bread for the Royal Guards.

[citation needed] In 1875, he left Versailles and on 4 May 1876 he sold the building and the land to The Colonial and Continental Church Society for 18,000 Frs.

A storm in 1891 appears to have caused serious damage to the building and an architect was called in to assess the structural safety of the church and as a result iron reinforcing bars were installed in 1892.

These were designed to correct what had been described as ‘the weak or dangerous side …….as the Church listed that way.’ The assurance was given that these repairs would give protection for at least 10 years!

In reality the church cost approximately £1200 (without furniture) and work started in February 1912 when the site was cleared of debris, the foundation stone was laid on 15 March by The Right Rev.

The church registers also report in following years, the sinking of the Titanic; the outbreak of The First World War and in 1917 the memorial service held for 10 British soldiers killed in a train crash at Massy-Palaiseau.

At this point, we should remember Maurice Simpson, who served as Chaplains Warden for over 25 years, and through his devotion kept the church open both during and after the war.

During the subsequent years there were frequent changes of chaplains and sometimes very small congregations By the 1970s, the tiny St. Mark's could no longer cope with the growing numbers and so by arrangement with the Catholic Bishop of Versailles, the church was given the use of the large chapel at the Lycée de Notre Dame de Grandchamp, Rue Royale, in the Quartier St. Louis in Versailles.

The first stage, comprising a worship area of 150 seats and two Sunday school rooms, was completed in 1993 under the chaplaincy of David and Angela Marshall.

The second stage was completed in 1998 when the foyer, sacristy, counselling room, kitchen and toilets were added, and the whole complex was linked to the office and the chapel in the stable.