| St. Paul's Church, Landour | |
| Location | Landour, Uttarakhand |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Membership | Church of North India |
| History | |
| Founded | 1839 |
| Dedication | St. Paul |
| Consecrated | May 1, 1840 |
St. Paul's is an Anglican church in Landour, India. The church was built in 1839 and first consecrated on May 1, 1840, by Bishop Daniel Wilson of Calcutta.[1] From 1840 to 1947, the church was run by military chaplains and was the premier church for the cantonment used primarily by the British residents of Landour and the British Military Hospital during the British Raj.[2]
St. Paul's was built in 1840 by Bishop Daniel Wilson who saw the need for the construction of a church in Landour, which would become the main station of the Anglican church in the Dehradun district.[3] The church was another in a line of recently constructed buildings above Kilmarnock, including the Christ Church Mussoorie— built four years previous in 1836— and the British Military Hospital, completed in 1838.[2] Upon its opening, St. Paul's was government owned and could seat 250 people. It was created for the particular use of the British troops based at the Landour convalescent depot.[1]
The church was extended and renovated in 1855 with the walls raised to their present level and the eastern section of the building enlarged to including an new choir, sanctuary and vestry. A second renovation was carried out in 1882, which saw the sheet metal roof replaced with thatch and a new deodar wood plank ceiling and sal wood support beams. This, however, appeared to have little affect on the cold and damp of the church; Chaplain J.W. Shaw commented in 1883 and the year following, that the church walls became "saturated and damp in the rain", so much so that he felt it necessary to purchase three iron stoves to warm the church and vestery room.[2]
The year 1857 marked the Indian Rebellion of 1857, an event the church record refers to, from the British perspective, as the "insurrection" of 1857. Rev. W.J.Jay was the chaplain during this period (1856—1857) and regular services were held uninterrupted.[2][3]
Further renovations were carried out in 1906, with the replacement of the old 1870's stained glass windows at the east end of the church with new ones that still remain to date.[2]
The church marriage records are available from 1927 to the present in complete form. Featuring among these are the names of many British citizens, including the parents of the British hunter Jim Corbett, Christopher and Mary Jane Corbett who married on 13 October 1859 in St Paul's.[2]
In recent years, St. Paul's has been administered by the Church of North India (CNI).[2]
In 2005, the Pastorate Committee proposed the restoration of the church roof, due to leaking. Some money to fund the repairs was raised by the congregation but it was not enough to pay for the restoration work. At this point, some former students of Woodstock School stepped forward to help fund a complete restoration of the building. The works were completed in November 2008.[2][4]