St. Paul's Church, Kandy
| St. Paul's Church | |
|---|---|
Neo-Gothic | |
| General contractor | Affleck and Gordon, Engineers |
| Groundbreaking | 16 March 1843 |
| Completed | 1852 |
| Direction of façade | towards west |
| Website | |
| www | |
St. Paul's Church (
History
In 1825 the
In 1841 a public subscription list was established to fund the construction of the church.
In 1843 the British Government ceded a block of Crown land to the trustees of the church and their successors in order to construct a church in Kandy.[3]
The foundation stone of the church was laid by the Bishop of Madras George Spencer on 16 March 1843 and whilst it was first used on 10 August 1846 construction work was still in progress. The church was primarily constructed out of solid terracotta bricks, manufactured at the Government brickworks.[4] The church wasn't completed until 1852. The church was formally consecrated on 25 January 1853 (Feast day of the conversion of St. Paul) by the first Bishop of Colombo, James Chapman.
The church was enlarged in 1878 by Archdeacon Matthew, with addition of a chancel, vestry, and organ chamber.[5] The bricks however were inferior to the original and therefore concreted over. In 1926 a number of significant cracks appeared in the church walls and the eastern section of the building was declared unsafe. The rebuilding of this section facilitated a new extension to the church, the 50-seat Lady Chapel, which was completed and dedicated in August 1928.
As it was first used by British officials and the British Garrison,[6] it has been called the Garrison Church.[7]
The architectural style is
It is an
The church houses the only pipe organ in Kandy[11] and potentially, the largest pipe organ in regular use in Sri Lanka.[12] The original pipe organ was donated in 1874 and was in constant use until the 21st century. In 2009 it was replaced with a similar-sized pipe organ from a disused church in Bradford.[11]
See also
References
- ISBN 9780415630023.
- ^ Selkirk, James (1844). Recollections of Ceylon after a Residence of Nearly Thirteen Years with an account of the Church Missionary Society's Operations in the Island and Extracts from a Journal. London: J. Hatchard and Son. pp. 502–503.
- ^ Suetee, Edwald Beaumont Fraser; Garmin, T. F. (1913). "A Revised Edition of the Legislative Enactments of Ceylon ...: 1707 to [1913]". 1. H. C. Cottle: 171–177.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ISBN 9789556131215.
- ^ Gunther, Michael. "St Paul's Church". Kingdoms of Sri Lanka. Old Stones: The Monuments of Art History. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ "St Paul's Church". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ "Kandy: Seeking The Unseen". Explore Sri Lanka. September 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ The Rough Guide to Sri Lanka, Gavin Thomas, Rough Guides, 2012, p. 219.
- ^ "St Paul's Church, Kandy". Diocese of Kurunegala. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ "Death Acknowledgements". Sunday Observer. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ Sunday Times. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
- Sunday Times. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
External links
