St. Mungo’s Church of Scotland, Lucknow Cantonment, Lucknow

I could only get this single picture of the beautiful St. Mungo’s Church of Scotland, Lucknow Cantonment as I was not allowed to take a picture from a point within the campus. It is located within Army’s regional recruitment centre. I visited the centre this July 2012 during my Lucknow visit. I requested a ‘Jawan’ (who approached me to check the purpose of my visit) to allow me a quick round of the church building – To my surprise he kept insisting that it was not a Church. I only realised the reason later that in 1976 the Church had been deconsecrated, handed over to Army and was no more a “place of workship”.

I was asked to wait while he went in to seek some permission and I had to wait for 20 minutes in the Lucknow sun. Later I was told that I could only read the board outside the Church Building from a far of point. I was not allowed to take any pictures as well. But whatever I could see from a far off point the condition of the Church was very poor. Doors had been reduced to frames and ceiling was falling down from many places. It’s a surprise as I’ve seen other old building now handed over to Army being maintained very well.

Next time I'll try and take proper permissions from the local Army headquarters and then try. It is a beautiful church (even after all these years of neglect) and it saddens my heart to see that a monument of Lucknowi and Scottish heritage is in a danger to being lost for ever.

St. Mungo's Church of Scotland was consecrated on Sunday 31st November 1909 by the Rev. G. T. Chree (Presidency Senior Chaplain of Bengal) and ever since Indian independence it has been in dispute off and on between the Church and Local Army establishment.  I hope to get a closer view next time.

View from the main road

Sorry about the poor quality of the picture, it was taken using my mobile phone camera. I wish we could do something to restore the building into its pristine condition.

St. Thomas Church (Church of North India), Nehru Road, Lucknow Cantonment

I wanted to visit St. Thomas for a very long time for few reasons. It is the Church which was used to shoot few scenes in Shashi Kapoor’s 1978 Movie ‘Junoon’. The movie is around 1857 Sepoy rebellion, commonly known as the ‘First war of Indian Independence’.  Another reason is that few years back the Church had been taken over by a group that had broken away from Church of North India and recently attempts have been made to bring it back under the original leadership of CNI Diocese of Lucknow. Please pray for GOD’s guiding hand in this situation. And the third and main reason is that as a kid I have passed by this Church innumerable times while going or coming back from my school La Martiniere College but had never got a chance to go inside and see the church.

Again as usual I could not get access to the interiors. The current presbyter does not stay on the campus and since only he has the keys I could view the interiors. I am also trying to get few more details like year of construction, consecration, etc. I’ll update the post once I receive those details.

Here are some latest pictures of the St. Thomas Church and few stills from the 1978 Movie ‘Junoon’.

Church as it appears from the main road (Nehru Road)

Main Entrance gate to the Church - from the look it appears to have fallen into disuse - 

Another Gate on the right (not in the picture) is used to enter the church compound

Board at the entrance gate with the name of the current presbyter Rev. Lalit Singh - 1

Board at the entrance gate with the name of the current presbyter Rev. Lalit Singh - 2

The old board with 'Fellowship of Believers' which was the name of the ministry/denomination of the broke away group still hangs over the main entrance gate

A still from the 1978 movie 'Junoon' - notice the church steeple is 4 storeys

Currently the steeple is only 3 storeys high - clearly the top storey got damaged and was not built back

View of the Church from the side and a clearer view of the steeple

Another view of the Church

View of the front door and the porch - the iron grill is an addition in the last few years and did not exist when the movie was shot in 1978

A still from the 1978 movie 'Junoon' - the front door and the porch as it appeared then

View from the front

The front door entrance to the Church - 1

The front door entrance to the Church - 2

View from other side

St. Thomas' Parsonage as it appears from the Church with the lush greens of the Church compound

The Parsonage appears to be in a comparatively good condition - I was told during this visit that the current Presbyter does not reside here

 The Church compound also has few cottages at the back

A still from the 1978 movie 'Junoon' - view of the whole church

A still from the 1978 movie 'Junoon' - As it appeared from inside in the movie

All Saints Cathedral (Church of North India, Diocese of Lucknow), Allahabad

When returning to Lucknow this morning (17/07/2012) on my way, I made it a point to visit The All Saints Cathedral (Church of North India, Diocese of Lucknow). It was designed by the English architect William Emerson who styled it in 13th Century Gothic architectural style. 

Unfortunately the Church was closed so I could not view the interiors. The guard was very hesitant to let me in the compound alone, so he accompanied me while I took a round of this magnificent building and took some pictures. It is indeed one of the most beautiful church (externally at least) that I have seen till date.

Here are some pictures of the Church and the surrounding lawns.

 View of the Church from one of the entrance gates - 1

  View of the Church from one of the entrance gates - 2

 The Church Bell hangs separately in the Church Lawn - Not sure if there is another one in the building

Behind the Bell across the road is the Bishop's house

 The Bell and a pond full of Lotus flowers on its side

 One of the Side Entrances

 The Front Main Door

 Church Building - 1

 Church Building - 2

 Church Building - 3

 Church Lawns - currently over grown due to rains 1 (Notice the Flood/Focus lights)

 Church Lawns - currently over grown due to rains 2

 Grave of Rt. Rev. George Herbert Westcott. The second Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Lucknow, he succeeded Rev. Dr. A Clifford in 1910 and died while still in office in 1928.
Inscription:
In very loving memory of George Herbert Westcott,
S.P.G. Missionary Cawnpur 1889-1910
Bishop of Lucknow November 6th. 1910
to January 16th. 1928.

 Church Building - 4

 Church Building - 5

 Church Lawns - currently over grown due to rains 4

 Church Building - 6

Board at the entrance gate - with the name of the current Presbyter Reverend G Daud

Allahabad Bible Seminary Chapel, Stanley Road, Allahabad (Denomination: Evangelical Church of India)

I visited Allahabad Bible Seminary (Allahabad) on my return journey to Lucknow today morning (17th July, 2012). Allahabad Bible Seminary is a well-known institution and was established in July 1942. There is a beautiful Chapel on the campus and the Seminary also houses the Registered Office of the Evangelical Church of India. Here are some pictures of the Chapel and the Seminary Campus. The Website of the seminary is http://www.abseminary.org/.

The Main Gate to the Seminary Campus

The Campus also houses the office of The Evangelical Church of India

The security guard at the gate was very hesitant to let me in without permission. So we sought for the permission from the Associate Priest of the Allahabad Bible Seminary Chapel Reverend Noel to let me go around the campus and take few pictures. Reverend Noel and the ABS library behind him.

 Memorial Library in the ABS campus – 1

 

Memorial Library in the ABS campus – 2

 Side view of the Chapel – 1

 Main Entrance to the Chapel

Tablet at the entrance of the Chapel

 Chapel from Inside – 1

 Chapel from Inside – 2

 Side view of the Chapel – 2

Side view of the Chapel – 3

Side view of the Chapel – 4

View from behind the Chapel

Campus buildings – 1

 

Campus buildings – 2

 Campus buildings – 3 

 Campus buildings – 4

Please pray for the Allahabad Bible Seminary and its various ministries.

20th August 2018

Here some latest pictures of the ABS Chapel, which I've picked from Rev. Pervez Sethna's FB page (and have his kind permission to use them).

 

Chapel and the ABS grounds in monsoon - 1

 

Chapel and the ABS grounds in monsoon - 2

 

Chapel and the ABS grounds in monsoon - 3

 

Chapel and the ABS grounds in monsoon - 4

 Chapel from inside with its congregation - 1

  Chapel from inside with its congregation - 2