St. George's Anglican Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

and

Pro-Cathedral A pro-cathedral or procathedral is a parish church that temporarily serves as the cathedral or co-cathedral of a diocese, or a church that has the same function in a Catholic missionary jurisdiction (such as an apostolic prefecture or apostolic ...

Basseterre Basseterre (; Saint Kitts Creole: ''Basterre'') is the capital and largest city of Saint Kitts and Nevis with an estimated population of 14,000 in 2018. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south western coast of Saint Kitt ...

Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of ...

History

In 1670 French

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

built a church dedicated to Our Lady; in 1706, however, Notre Dame was burned to the ground by English soldiers billeted there. It was rebuilt and officially renamed in 1710 St. George's, in the incumbency of the Rev. Alexander Cockburn. St. George's was taken over for Anglican worship in the 1720s. It was damaged again in the fire of 1763, but once again restored. The earthquake of 1842, followed by the hurricane of 1843, reduced it to so ruinous a condition that an entirely new building was planned.

New church

The new church was to be built to the east of the old, and the cornerstone was laid on October 22, 1844. The church did not rise above its foundations; for twelve more years, the congregation continued to worship in the ruins of the old church. In 1856 the present church was begun, and it was consecrated on 25 March 1859. Seven years afterwards, it was gutted in the Great Fire of 1867; and was re-roofed, and restored in 1869. A pipe organ was installed in 1872 by the firm Booth of Wakefield.

Hurricanes and restoration work

In a series of hurricanes since 1989, the church was again damaged, but restoration work has since been undertaken on the building.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George's Church, Basseterre Churches in the Caribbean Anglican church buildings in the Caribbean Churches completed in 1859 19th-century Anglican church buildings Buildings and structures in Basseterre Churches in Saint Kitts and Nevis