St Philip's Church, Kingstown
In September of 1819, a Portuguese slave ship, the Donna Paula, was wrecked upon the reef at Anegada. It was on a voyage between Malemba, Africa and Brazil.The ship's crew and 240 of the 253 slaves on board were saved from the wreckage. Accounts differ in history, with saying that 180 were put on board the British Schooner Lord Wellington, and 60 on board the Elizabeth and Hannah, and the vessels was cleared for Bahia. History says however that a bribe was offered and that clearance was fraudulent and they never left.
You can see a fairly detailed account of it here.
It has also been said that they were not free for several years after arriving here, but originally worked as plantation workers.
However, then problem of relocating the new arrivals arose and a decision had to be made as to where to settle them. The area now known as Kingstown, on Tortola, which was then uninhabited, was put aside and subdivided, and each newly freed African was allocated a plot of land where they could build a house and grow provision crops. Many converted to Christianity and in response to their embracing a new religion, the church was built for them close to the shore of the Kingstown area. The church was christened St. Philips.
The church is presently in ruins and has not been in active use for decades, except for occasional civil marriage ceremonies which are conducted within its walls,technically as open air ceremonies. The church is in an appalling state of disrepair, and even has graffiti daubed on some of the walls. The church is presently on private land. Periodically talk appears in the local newspapers about the Government or that National Parks Trust purchasing the site, but the current landowner is quite relaxed about locals and tourists alike stopping to photograph and inspect the ruins.
The status of the shipwrecked slaves would undoubtedly have caused the administrators of Tortola some difficulty at the time. The African slave trade had been abolished in 1807 pursuant to the Slave Trade Act 1807, but this did not free persons who were still slaves atthe time. Slaves were only later manumitted in the Territory when the United Kingdom Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Happily it seems that the administrators came to the view that the shipwrecked slaves should be treated as free men and women rather than being returned to the Porteugese captors, and they were given uninhabited land to settle on.
A restoration project is presently underway to solidify the remains, and to turn the site into a historical tourist attraction, and to recognise its unique historical status in the story of emancipation, and the history of the Territory's religious heritage.
Information and pictures taken from the Island Sun, March 31st, 2007
A service commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Abilition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807 was held on Sunday 25 March 2007 at the St. Philips Church at Kingstown, Tortola.
St Philips is the first church in the entire hemisphere built solely for black people. It should be one of those World Heritage Landmarks that the United Nations fights to preserve. Despite repeated appeals by this newspaper and members of the public during the last 15 years, nothing has been done and the ruins have now reached a point where the whole structure is rapidly crumbling
Whilst the proposed temporary remedial work is much welcomed, it is not a solution and government should step in and fund a full fledged resoration of this immensely important religious building.
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