The Fort England chapel

Abstract

The story of religious ministry at Fort England is much older than the chapel itself. The Rev. William Shaw held his first local services in the rough army barracks manned by the Hottentot Cape Corps. He conceived the idea of a chapel and Sunday-school for the men on the site, but it was many years before this could be realised. It was not until 1861 that the Methodist Church built the Fort England Chapel just outside the military boundary, primarily for the use of the garrison. When the old fort became an asylum in 1875, the resident chaplain conducted his own services inside the wards; the chapel was out of bounds to patients until 1891, when services began to be held for them there. Eventually, in 1913, the government bought the chapel from the Methodists for £2 000, since when it has served the Fort England Hospital exclusively.