Carmel Moravian Church

18°09′51″N 77°56′16″W / 18.1642°N 77.9379°W / 18.1642; -77.9379LocationWestmorelandCountryJamaicaDenominationMoravianMembership1587 (1903)
150 (2006)HistoryStatusChurchFounded1827Founder(s)Mr and Mrs Hutchinson Muir ScottArchitectureFunctional statusActiveCompleted1826 temporary
1828 original
1859 enlargedSpecificationsLength120 ft (37 m)Width73 ft (22 m)Nave width42 ft (13 m)BellsOneAdministrationDistrictWesternProvinceJamaica Province of the Moravian ChurchCircuitCarmelClergyBishop(s)Stanley George ClarkeMinister(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 circa 1895.^[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 adding missing items. (November 2012)

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]
1963-70	John McOwat[1]
1970-72	Desmond Quaite[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, an ex-slave who was called 'Aneaso' born in Africa, and brought to Jamaica and later wrote an autobiography.^[4]

References

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