By Andrew Keili
Directly opposite the British High Commissioner’s residence at Hill Station, by the Presidential Lodge lies an imposing architectural masterpiece of a structure—Saint Augustine’s Church, whose history, linked to the colonial history of Sierra Leone, is both strange and interesting.
Hill Station was a European settlement for government officials on a spur of Wilberforce Hill, south-west of the city, ostensibly for health reasons, away from the humid town and hill villages, which were infested with mosquitoes and resultant malaria.
When Hill Station was established in 1902, most of the government officials moved there from the town where they had been living. Hill Station was connected to the town by a mountain railway. The railway line was extended from Water Street to Hill Station. The “Bungalow train” transported officials to and from work. The settlement consisted of a number of bungalows, each standing on its own grounds at an elevation of 800 feet above sea level. Later, some prefabricated buildings were imported from England for houses and offices.
In 1928, when Signal Hill Road was constructed around the hill to Wilberforce and Hill Station, the mountain railway was abandoned and the tracks subsequently taken up. Segregation on a racial basis was evident at Hill Station. An order in Council made on 31 December 1910 defined the boundary of the Hill Station reservation, avoiding the possibility of encroachment by Africans.
The residents of Hill Station found it difficult to commute to churches in the city. Saint Augustine’s Church, commonly known as “The Church on the Hill,” was birthed in 1930 to meet the spiritual needs of the small group of members of the Church of England residing at Hill Station since the early 1920s who were mainly expatriates.
Following a resolution passed in a meeting held by members of the Church of England in Sierra Leone, chaired by the Bishop on Sunday, 2nd March 1930, the Church acquired the living quarters of the Public Works Engineer near the defunct Hill Station railway line, then known as “The Platelayer’s Bungalow” for a sum of £50, paying, in addition, a yearly ground rent of ten shillings (10s) from the Colonial Government. This parcel of land lay east of the defunct Hill Station railway line.
On 19th April 1930, the renovated bungalow was dedicated as the Chaplaincy Church for divine worship in accordance with the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England. A Chaplain was specially assigned to manage the affairs of the Church. The Church continued to be called the Chaplaincy Church until December 1932 when its building was re-dedicated as St. Augustine of Hippo following further renovation and refurbishment.
During the formative years of the Church, the worship was exclusively Anglican and the attending members were exclusively white, earning the Church the title “the White Man’s Church”. As the Hill Station community of white expatriates increased, pressure increased for the Church building to be used to hold other forms of worship service for non-Anglican residents.
In a meeting held on 12th November 1939 approval was given for the form of service to be occasionally modified to suit members of other denominations. From thereon, St. Augustine’s Church took on its inter-denominational character.
When the building became inadequate for the increasing number of worshippers, it was extended westwards in concrete, making allowance for any future enlargement. It was later extended several times. The Anglican and Methodist Eucharists were now being celebrated on alternate Sundays. A prefabricated hall was purchased, erected and dedicated on 5th April 1972.
As more and more indigenes moved into the once exclusively white expatriate residential area of Hill Station, Saint Augustine’s Church felt its impact. Also, the spirit of ecumenism blossomed as “low mass” Catholic services were permitted to be occasionally held in the Church. The Church is also known to have accommodated Lutheran services.
To cater for an expanded congregation, the Church Committee under the Chaplaincy of Rev. Reginald Spaine-Pratt decided to erect the new Church building and construction started in 2012. This project, funded mainly by the membership, continued through the tenure of several Chaplains and was dedicated and consecrated on Sunday 10th November 2024, by the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Freetown, Rt. Rev. Thomas Wilson during the Chaplaincy of Rev. Canon Shirlene Carew.
Throughout its 12-year construction period, several building committees have handled all matters related to the construction and equipping of the new Church building. The Church consists of a large auditorium floor which has a vestry (clergy hall), a chaplain’s office, an administrative office, a cry room, several meeting rooms, an audio-visual room and ample toilet facilities and there is a spacious car park in the compound. The basement hall underneath the auditorium is available for rental. Both auditorium and hall are fully air-conditioned. The Church has a seating capacity of 390 in the main hall and together with its two galleries, each of which accommodates 60 worshipers, the total seating capacity is 450.
The main contractors were Femiturcon and DECO Investment. Architect Manilius Garber was the Principal Architect with Architect Kathleen handling the later stages of architectural work. Pemew and Cemmats participated in M& E design and supervision work. ICS, headed by Ing. Gaiva Lavalie led the structural engineering design and supervision effort and several Church members assisted in their professional capacities.
God has been good in directing the Church to fund this building in diverse ways. People gave generously by donating every Sunday into the Building Fund. Others made significant anonymous donations. There are those who provided building materials at various stages of the project or spurred business associates to donate items. Many members of the Church provided various equipment and furniture to adorn the church.
The past three to four years have witnessed the acceleration of the project to bring it to completion. Under the leadership of Kofie Macauley as Chairman of the Building committee, the Church and hall were tiled, many features added to the Church’s interior including the altar and construction work to complete the building generally accelerated.
The assignment of Rev. Canon Shirlene Carew as the new Chaplain came during a period when the Church had to prepare to host the Anglican Synod for 2024. Her zeal to have the Church finally completed, coupled with the Bishop’s edict that Synod will only hold in a consecrated Church edifice spurred Rev. Carew and the Church committee to pull out all stops to complete the building. Many other unfinished features were finally completed.
The giving during these latter stages has been unprecedented-people have given sacrificially. God’s hand has been with the building of this Church from start to finish. Over the last 12 years, through the tenure of various Chaplains and Methodist Ministers and several building committee members supported by Church committees we have laboured to build God’s house.
Saint Augustine’s has indeed undertaken an interesting journey from a “white man’s Church on an inclusive ecumenical journey to fulfil its new mission statement which is: “We welcome everyone to worship God in a biblical, Spirit-led, caring, and inter-denominational fellowship that emulates Christ and impacts Hill Station and the wider community”.
The old Church building, “The Platelayer’s Bungalow”, with its many extensions still stands in the compound as is the prefabricated hall of old. Also, the ashes of Komrabai Peter Penfold, the late British High Commissioner, who will always be mentioned in the annals of this country are covered by a tree beside the old Church, planted in his memory and dedicated earlier this year. So there is plenty of history in this compound!
Today Hill Station is no longer inhabited by expatriates who were fleeing from mosquitoes. Even though the mosquitoes may have developed stronger wings (through going to the gym perhaps) to frequent the settlement, the community has grown in unimaginable ways and the opportunity presents itself to us to spread the gospel as admonished by Bishop Wilson in his sermon at the opening service: “Now members of Saint Augustine’s, it is time to go to the highways and byways, hills and corners of Hill Station community to preach, teach and compel them to come in so that the harvest in this newly constructed church will be greater than the former.”
This obviously includes areas as far afield as Gbangbayila (which the colonialists during the “White man’s Church” era might have renamed Gbangsville or Banksville for ease of pronunciation). Come to think of it, we may even convince our famous neighbour to attend the Church once in a while, even though he is a staunch Catholic!
