Travel to Peninsular India: Chennai / Madras 3: British Churches

Both the churches shown here--St George's, 1816, and St Andrew's, 1818--were designed by a Major DeHaviland.

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May as well start among the aerial roots of the Ficus shrouding the cemetery at St George's.

The cathedral early Sunday. The doors were wide open.

Side doors provided extra and needed ventilation.

Inside, the effect was almost like being outside.

Part of the memorial to the first bishop of Madras.

He is shown in a pose that invites mockery. When a target becomes this easy to hit, it's a good idea to think about whether it deserves to be hit at all.

The inscription reads: "...wantonly murdered on the steps of his courthouse at Trichinopoly... in the thirtieth year of his service...."

Bengal was always the hotbed of insurrection, but Madras wasn't a sinecure: "... killed by the hand of a political assassin...1911."

A domestic story.

Malaria probably.

The austere but elegant St. Andrews Church, modelled on London's St Martin-in-the-Fields.

From the main entrance.

On the floor of the church.

On a wall in the church and one of the most beautiful memorials in India.