St Michael and All Angels Church facade, Blantyre, Malawi

St. Michael and All Angels Church was constructed from 1888 to 1891 of

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

at the Blantyre Mission in

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

. It is located on the original Scottish mission site, off Chileka Rd, and is in the

Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian The Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) is a Presbyterian denomination. It consists of five synods: one in Zambia ( Zambia Synod), one in Zimbabwe ( Harare Synod) and three in Malawi – Livingstonia Synod in the north of the country, N ...

’s Blantyre Synod. Since 1991, it has been partnered with Hiland Presbyterian Church in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. In 1885, Lieutenant H. E. O'Neil determined the

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

of Blantyre to be 2 hours 20 minutes 13.56 seconds east of Greenwich by means of a series of 365 sets of lunar observations, and a plaque installed in the side of the church commemorates this achievement. The church has been described as :''the first permanent Christian Church erected ... between the

Zambezi The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

and the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

.'' – Rev. Alexander Hetherwick C.B.E., D.D., F.R.G.S.

Construction

The church was designed, and its construction managed, by Rev. David Clement Scott, who had no formal architectural training. Labor was provided by local men without previous experience in this type of construction. All the bricks used were made on-site from local

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

and fired in wood-fueled

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

s. It has been estimated that eighty-one different forms of bricks were used in the building. The most common bricks are 12 by 6 by 3 inches, laid up in

English bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

. Scott made no detailed drawings before construction began. Instead, each detail was tested with dry bricks before final assembly. The dimensions are approximately 106 feet long, 30 feet wide from aisle wall to aisle wall, and 37 feet high to the crest of the roof. Scott described his plan thus: :''The form was a

Latin cross A Latin cross or ''crux immissa'' is a type of cross in which the vertical beam sticks above the crossbeam, with the three upper arms either equally long or with the vertical topmost arm shorter than the two horizontal arms, and always with a mu ...

with very short

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

s, (10 feet outside measurement). A short

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, (12 feet outside measurement), and a semi-circular

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

of 8 feet radius. The aim was to make a comely

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

place of worship.'' Design and structural elements include arches, domes, and

flying buttress The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...

es. The two towers are not identical. A

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

, domed bell tower, which contains a circular staircase, is built into the angle between the south-western tower and the wall of the south aisle. The interior consists of a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

of six

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es.

Modifications and renovations

An organ was installed in the North transept in 1907, and electric light was installed in 1912. The organ was replaced in 1954. The church underwent renovations in the 1970s, but has changed little in appearance since it was built. A large crack was found and repaired with flitch plates and

turnbuckle A turnbuckle, stretching screw or bottlescrew is a device for adjusting the tension or length of ropes, cables, tie rods, and other tensioning systems. It normally consists of two threaded eye bolts, one screwed into each end of a small metal f ...

Surroundings

The church building itself is accompanied by a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

, about 30 yards to the north, and is surrounded by additional buildings that at one time housed a school, a hospital, a printing press, and a carpentry shop. The grounds now include both a modern multi-purpose hall and the

Henry Henderson Institute Henry Henderson Institute (HHI) is an educational establishment in Blantyre, Malawi, founded in 1909. It was named in honour of Henry Henderson (1843-91), lay missionary of the Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o ...

, named in honour of the Scottish missionary Henry Henderson (1843–91).

Gallery

File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Back.jpg, East end with semi-circular apse File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Stained Glass.JPG, Stained glass in the apse as seen through door in facade File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Side Detail 2.JPG, North side detail File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Clock Tower.JPG, Clock tower File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Brick Detail.JPG, Brick detail File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Brick Detail 2.JPG, Brick detail File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Brick Detail 3.JPG, Brick detail File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Brick Detail 4.JPG, Brick detail File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Plaque 1.JPG, Plaque on clock tower File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Plaque 2.JPG, Plaque on clock tower File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Plaque 3.JPG, Plaque on clock tower File:St Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Plaque 4.JPG, Plaque on front

References

External links

Church of Central Africa Presbyterian’s Blantyre Synod
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, Malawi Churches in Malawi Churches completed in 1891 19th-century Presbyterian churches Buildings and structures in Blantyre