Carmel Moravian Church

Carmel Moravian Church
Carmel Moravian Church c2010.
Carmel Moravian Church
18°09′51″N 77°56′16″W / 18.1642°N 77.9379°WCoordinates: 18°09′51″N 77°56′16″W / 18.1642°N 77.9379°W
Location	Westmoreland
Country	Jamaica
Denomination	Moravian
Membership	1587 (1903) 150 (2006)
History
Founded	1827
Founder(s)	Mr and Mrs Hutchinson Muir Scott
Architecture
Status	Church
Functional status	Active
Completed	1826 temporary 1828 original 1859 enlarged
Specifications
Length	120 ft (37 m)
Width	73 ft (22 m)
Nave width	42 ft (13 m)
Bells	One
Administration
Province	Jamaica Province of the Moravian Church
Circuit	Carmel
District	Western
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Stanley George Clarke
Minister(s)	Christopher Euphfa

Carmel Moravian Church sits dramatically atop a hill 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of the small market town of Newmarket in Westmoreland, Jamaica. It was founded in 1827 at the behest of a local family of planters who wished to teach Christianity to their slaves.^[1]

History

Planters Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson Muir Scott owned properties in the area and starting in 1818 made several attempts to find a christian minister for their slaves.^[1]

Eventually, c1820, they invited Moravian missionaries to begin regular services on their estates.^[1]

A hill top site was chosen by the Scotts in 1826 and a road built up to the temporary building they had constructed there.^[1]

John Scholefield was appointed as the first minister of Carmel in 1827 and oversaw work on a new church which started the same year and was completed in 1828.^[1] It was soon found to be too small and as a result services had to be held both morning and evening to satisfy the demand.^[1] The church was enlarged in 1859 resulting in the magnificent building, 120 feet (37 m) long and 72 feet (22 m) wide at the transept, which still stands today.^[1]

Buildings

Church

A cut stone and mortar structure with a large masonry belfry to the south topped by a wooden cupola and containing one bell.

A pipe organ was obtained from Germany c1895.^[2]

Manse

A 20th-century building of rendered breeze blocks with a zinc roof. Rain water was channeled by gutters from the roof to a large storage tank to the south of the building from where it was daily pumped by hand into a header tank of old oil drums and gravity fed to taps.

School

There is an infant school a little downhill to the west of the church, opposite the main entrance.

Burial ground

Running downhill to the north of the church is a small and sparsely used God's Acre of about 1,700m².^[3]

Ministers

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

1827-??	John Scholefield
...
1903-17	G.H. Lopp[1]
1917-34	Fredrick Weiss[1]
1934-44	C.F. Smith[1]
1944-47	H.T. Cuthbert[1]
1947-49	Robert Burd[1]
1949-55	John Berry[1]
1956-63	H. Ashton-Smith[1]
1963-67	John McOwat[1]
1967-72	Desmond Quate[1]
1972-74	Michael Smith[1]
1974-76	Geoffrey Tate[1]
1976-79	Orville Neil[1]
1979-86	Clinton Robinson[1]
1987-94	Levi Watson[1]
1994-2001	Desna Goulbourne[1]
2001-2006	Devon Anglin[1]
2006- 2012	Reginald Seymour[1]
2014-	Christopher Euphfa

Notable members

Archibald Monteith's grave.

• Archibald Monteith, an ex-slave who was called 'Aneaso' born in Africa, and brought to Jamaica and later wrote an autobiography.^[4]

References

1. Henry, George. "Carmel Moravian Church". The Jamaica Star. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
2. Hastings & MacLeavy 1979, p. 84.
3. "Aerial view of burial ground.". Retrieved 18 October 2014.
4. Warner Lewis, Maureen (2007). Archibald Monteath: Igbo, Jamaican, Moravian. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. p. 400. ISBN 9789766401979.

Bibliography

• Hastings, S U & MacLeavy, B L (1979), Seedtime and Harvest (A Brief History of the Moravian Church in Jamaica 1754-1979), The Moravian Church Corporation