St. Thomas' Church (Sinhala: ජින්තුපිටිය සාන්ත තෝමස් දේවස්ථානය) is an Anglican Catholic church situated in Ginthupitiya in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is considered one of the oldest Anglican churches in the country (Manathunga, 2016; Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016).
History
The construction work of this church was started in 1815 by Sir Robert Brownrigg (1758-1833), the Governor of Ceylon from 1812-1820 (Chitty, 1834; Manathunga, 2016). A building previously used as a Portuguese church and then as a Dutch barrack is said to have been removed from this site to take the space for the new construction (Manathunga, 2016). Built for the Tamil Christians who lived in the Ginthupitiya area, the church was maintained under the Church of England after its first service was held on 28 July 1916 (Chitty, 1834; Manathunga, 2016).
Some refurbishments were done to the church building in 1903 (Manathunga, 2016). A few gravestones dating from the 1700s are found on the church premises.
Attribution
1) St. Thomas' Church Colombo, Sri Lanka and Interior of St. Thomas' Church, Colombo by Drdlovell are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
References
1) Chitty, S.C., 1834. The Ceylon
Gazetteer: Containing an Accurate Account of the Districts, Provinces,
Cities, Towns... &c. of the Island of Ceylon. Cotta Church Mission Press. pp.75-76.
2) Manathunga, S. B., 2016. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-39-9. pp.82-83.
2) Manathunga, S. B., 2016. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-39-9. pp.82-83.
3) Welandawe, H., Weerasinghe, J., 2016. Urban Heritage in the Western Region Megapolis Planning Project. p.103.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 14 January 2023