St. George's Anglican Church, Anglican church in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
St. George's Anglican Church is Basseterre's largest church, on Church Street, with exterior walls of andesite rock and a slate roof in the manner of English parish churches. It was designed by William Salter, who also designed its furniture and fittings, and can hold at least a thousand worshippers.
French Jesuits built a church dedicated to Our Lady in 1670; English soldiers billeted there burned it in 1706. Rebuilt and renamed St. George's in 1710 under Rev. Alexander Cockburn, it passed to Anglican worship in the 1720s. Fire damaged it in 1763, and the 1842 earthquake and 1843 hurricane led to a new building, begun in 1856 and consecrated on 25 March 1859.
The stained glass windows were made by Clayton and Bell, the English firm also responsible for the church's design under architect William Salter. The building holds at least a thousand worshippers, and its 1956 north chancel chapel and vestry were added in the 20th century. National requiem and funeral services have been held here, including Robert Bradshaw's requiem in 1978 and Paul Southwell's state funeral in 1979.
The church stands on Church Street in central Basseterre, its walls of andesite rock and roof of slate. Visits are possible outside service times; the bell tower and its clock, repaired after Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and again in 2007, are not described in the sources as open to visitors.
The bell added after the 1867 fire served two purposes: warning of imminent danger and controlling the movement of enslaved people. The French source gives no 1822 date; the bell belongs to the rebuilt church of the late 1860s.
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