St Mary Church, Fort St George, Madras



 St. Marys Church  Fort St George, Madras 


    This church is the oldest  Anglican  Church in India. Before the church was built the religious services were held in Factory House the first building built in the Fort. The construction of the church started in 1678 and was consecrated  on 28th October 1680 during the period of Strensham Master  who was agent of EIC. The architect was William Dixon Chief Gunner.  The walls and ceilings  of the church were bomb proof  thick that during the siege of Madras in 1758-59 it was used as a barrack and storehouse for granary.  The original building was a rectangular one built on laterite foundation of brick and chunam. Wood was used only for doors and windows . It was considered to be the Presidency Church  and later became the Garrison church serving  regiments in the Fort.  The old weathered and inscribed tombstones in the churchyard dating to early British era are chronicles of colonial past.


      The first  chaplain who served the Company in the East  Indies  was John Cartwright of London  on a salary of 3 pounds a month.  15 pounds was given for outfit. Until  1668 there was only one chaplain  for the  East  Indies when it was made four and one was stationed in Fort St. George.  Edward  Terry was the first  chaplain in the  Coromandel  coast.  The  spire of the St . Marys was built in 1692 and quarters for the  chaplain was also built on the  west end of the  church.  This house of the  chaplain was demolished later and the present  tower of the  church is not the original one. The  tower was damaged  during the  siege of Lally in 1759 by gun shots and shelling of the French and it was damaged  beyond  repairs. The tower was entirely  rebuilt with some delay due to shortage of funds by the  East India  Company  under the direction of  Colonel  Gents. The new tower was considerably taller than the old one and finer.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

St. Matthias Church, Vepery, Madras

Image
  St Matthias Church, Vepery.  This  was originally  a Catholic  church  called  Our Lady of Miracles and was the  private chapel of Coja Petrus Uscan the Armenian Merchant.  After the rendition of  Madras in 1749 the British  doubted the  Catholics of having supported French  and the  Catholic  chapel  inside the Fort was demolished. After the death of  Coja Petrus  Uscan in 1751 the  Vepery church  was taken over by the  SPCK the  Danish  Protestant  Mission.  The   church was converted into a Anglican  church  and  was repaired  extensively  and consecrated in 1823. The  Government also paid some money for the restoration.  The  tombstone of Uscan  is still in the  churchyard. Many of the  road  in Vepery like Hunters Road, Jeremiah Road,  Rotlers Street  are named after the Prebysters w...
Read more

St. Thomas English Church, Santhome, Madras

Image
 The advent of Christianity in Santhome area started eith the arrival of Portugese in 16th century. This happened after Vaco da Gama found out the sea route to the spice country India.  By the year 1523 the Portugese constructed the old Santhome church over the place where St Thomas was supposed to have been buried in 1st century.  That old Church was pulled down in 1893 and present Santhome Cathedral was inaugurated in 1896.         Santhome had a good  concentration of Anglicans in the first half of 19th century outside Fort St George  and a church was required for their spiritual needs. Rev . Robert Carver  (1788-1845) was the  man behind the construction and consecration of St. Thomas English church  at Santhome in 1842. He went to  Ceylon in 1815 as part of Wesleyn Mission and was there upto 1824 after when he shifted to Madras  due to  his wife death in Jaffna.  He intially worked in Santhome under S.P...
Read more

St. Rita’s Chapel, Santhome, Madras

Image
 St.Ritas Chapel, Santhome.  This church is situated on Santhome High Road inside the campus of Santhome Higher Secondary School.  This nearly 300 year old Church is one of six churches situated within the Portuguese fort of Santhome. It was built by Armenians who were in good numbers in 18th century Madras. There are two inscriptions on the eastern wall of the church abetting the road.  One is in Armenian dated 1729 which says " In memory of  the Armenian Nation. In the year of the Saviour 1729". It is not in memory of any individual but of Armenian nation.  It was in this year that the  tomb of St . Thomas was opened in nearby  Santhome Cathedral  for  public view. Coja Petrus Uskan was present on the  occasion.  The  other  inscription is in Portuguese  which says " This church was finished anew in the year 1740 the  Vicar of it  being Friar Gaspar Dos Reis a native of Santhome ". I am not sure wheth...
Read more