History - St. Paul's Church, Kandy

In 1951, a chapel was established in the South transept. A gift of the figure of the Mother and Infant, is above the Alter. The Bishop dedicated the Children’s Chapel on 8th September, 1951, on the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.

In 1964, The Rev. David Ince, who was Curate of St. Paul’s Church, Kandy, painted a beautiful set of murals on cardboard and they adorn three walls of this Chapel.

The murals vividly depict, in sequence, the Annunciation, the Nativity, Jesus, as a young Carpenter with Joseph, His father, the Temptation of Jesus, the man with leprosy being healed by Jesus, Jesus before Pilate, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension. Very sadly these paintings have not been well preserved and have also suffered damage by seeping rain water from the main roof.

In 2012, a wooden screen, enclosing the Children’s Chapel, was crafted by a local carpenter, precisely like the screen in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, yet again bearing testimony to the skill and dexterity of our craftsmen.

In 1931, before the Children’s Chapel was established, as was the custom in Cathedral Churches in England, permission was granted in November, 1931, for the Ceylon Mounted Rifles Standard to be placed for

safekeeping in St. Paul’s. It was awarded to this Regiment for their services during the war in South Africa in 1900 – 1901. This banner had been ceremonially handed over at Kandy in April 1901 by the Duke of Cornwall and York.

The Ceylon Planters' Rifle Corps Colours too were placed for safe keeping in St. Paul's in September, 1938 and the presentation was made by the Governor, Sir Henry Blake. Two brass plaques on the wall of this chapel records this fact. On the disbanding of this Regiment, these Regimental Colours were removed to the National Army Museum at the Royal Military Academy at Camberley, in Surrey, where they now lie.


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