Acid Rain Was Dissolving the Walls: Falmouth’s 1796 Church Gets a Multimillion-Dollar Facelift

• St Peter’s Anglican, built in 1796, is Falmouth’s oldest public building
• Restoration covered the roof, termite-damaged pews, walls, a stained-glass window and the limestone façade
• Funding came from the JNHT, the Tourism Enhancement Fund, the EU and parishioners
• The contractor said acid rain had been dissolving the limestone

St Peter’s Anglican Church in Falmouth, Trelawny, was built in 1796 and is the oldest public building in the town. By 2018 it had also become the most visited tourist site in the parish — and it was showing its age. That year, the Gleaner reported, the church received a multimillion-dollar facelift.

The work was wide-ranging. The roof was repaired and restored. Termite damage to pews and the vestry entrance was fixed. Walls damaged by water were refurbished, the front gate was replaced, a walking path was built, and a Madonna and Child stained-glass window was restored. The exterior limestone façade was treated.

That last job was driven by a problem few congregations think about. Dr James Parrent, managing director of the contractor Parrent and Associates, explained what had been happening to the stonework: “Acid rain reacts with limestone. It actually dissolves limestone…the stones over time all fell off.”

No single funder paid for it. The restoration brought together the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, the Tourism Enhancement Fund, the European Union’s Sugar Transformation Unit, private citizens and the parishioners themselves.

The funding model is the story. A historic church in a heritage town can draw on tourism and heritage money that an ordinary congregation cannot, because the building earns its keep for the wider economy by attracting visitors. That creates a case for public investment, but it also means the church must work within heritage rules on materials and methods.

For returnees in Trelawny and diaspora members with Falmouth roots, St Peter’s shows how a landmark can be saved when church, state and outside partners share the bill. It also shows why maintenance deferred for years — termites, water, crumbling stone — ends up costing far more than routine upkeep.

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