Saint James' Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

on the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

and is part of the

Diocese of St Helena The Diocese of Saint Helena is an Anglican diocese within the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It covers the islands of Saint Helena and Ascension in the Atlantic Ocean and was created in 1859. St Paul's Cathedral is on Saint Helena. Histor ...

. It is situated in the capital Jamestown and is the oldest Anglican Church in the southern hemisphere; the present building was put up in 1774.

History

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

granted a new charter to the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in 1657, which gave the company the right to fortify and colonize any of its establishments. Because of the strategic importance of Saint Helena as a fortress and staging post on the way home from India, the Company claimed the island on 5 May 1659. The building of the fort was commenced immediately and a little town sprang up in the valley with the chapel and was subsequently named Jamestown, after

James, Duke of York James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...

. The valley, now generally known as James Valley, was called either Saint James Valley or Chapel Valley, after the chapel which was a prominent building as viewed from the bay. In 1671, the East India Company sent the first of a long sequence of

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

chaplains. The early, modest little church was replaced by a slightly bigger one in 1674, but was only later named Saint James' church. By 1774 the first parish church in Jamestown showed signs of decay, and so finally a new building was erected. Saint James' is the oldest surviving Anglican church south of the

Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

. Alterations were made in 1843 and 1869.Land Planning and Development Control Ordinance
Appendix 3: Listed Buildings The church once possessed a spire, but this had to be taken down in 1980 for safety reasons.Flickr
Photo showing the former spire It was restored in 2020. It is designated as a Grade I listed building, and is one of many listed buildings (a designation for buildings of historic or architectural merit) in Jamestown. It is situated in the historic centre of Jamestown, close to the shore and to The Castle.

Parish

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of St James (one of three parishes on the island) consists of Saint James' Church and three daughter churches: * Saint John's, Upper Jamestown * Saint Mary's, the Briars * Saint Michael's, Rupert's Valley

Gallery

File:Saint James Church in Jamestown Saint Helena.jpg, View from NE in 2020, after restoration of the steeple File:Interior of Saint James' Church Jamestown.jpg, View looking E of the altar and lancet windows File:Jacob's Ladder near St. James Cathedral in Jamestown Saint Helena.jpg, Jacob's ladder visible behind the church File:Saint James Church in Jamestown in 2020.jpg, View from N in 2020 File:Detail of the bell tower and steeple of Saint James Church in Jamestown.jpg, Detail of steeple MELLISS(1875) p068 - JAMESTOWN, ST. JAMES CHURCH.jpg, Jamestown in 1875 Jamestown Jacobs Ladder.jpg, The view down

Jacob's Ladder Jacob's Ladder () is a ladder or staircase leading to Heaven that was featured in a dream the Biblical Patriarch Jacob had during his flight from his brother Esau in the Book of Genesis (chapter 28). The significance of the dream has been de ...

onto historic Jamestown, including Saint James' Church immediately below to the right

References

{{Reflist

External links

Diocese of Saint Helena
Parish of St James

Drawing from 1683 showing the church in James Valley Church buildings in Saint Helena Churches completed in 1774 18th-century Anglican church buildings in the United Kingdom Parishes of Saint Helena Grade I listed buildings in Saint Helena

History

Parish

Gallery

See also

References

External links