175 Years on a Port Antonio Hillside: Christ Church Still Stands as Its Members Migrate Away

• Christ Church in Port Antonio, Portland, was built in 1840 of clay bricks
• It marked its 175th anniversary in April 2015
• Membership had fallen to about 120 people
• Its administrator blamed backsliding, migration and death for the decline

Christ Church sits on a slope in the heart of Port Antonio, and it has been there since 1840. In 2015 the Portland church marked 175 years, the Gleaner reported, having outlasted a long list of hurricanes and many of the historic buildings around it.

The church was built with clay-made bricks, and it remains structurally sound. The Gleaner noted that while other old buildings in the town had been demolished or abandoned, Christ Church was expected to keep standing for a long time yet. Its chiming clock and bell still carry across Port Antonio on Sunday mornings, and its architecture draws tourists who come to photograph and film it.

The building is not just a place for Sunday services. It hosts funerals, weddings, baptisms, graduations and seminars. A new rector took up duties at the start of 2015.

The congregation, however, has shrunk. Membership stood at roughly 120. “Our membership has dwindled. Over the years, members have either backslidden, migrat[ed], or died,” office administrator Coleen Clarke told the Gleaner. “This church has stood the test of time, and despite the shortfall in membership, the work of the Lord must go on.”

That mismatch — a sturdy, historic building and a thinning congregation — is one of the quiet property problems facing Jamaica’s older churches. A 175-year-old brick church still needs roofing, painting, wiring and insurance, whether 120 or 1,200 people fill the pews each week.

For Jamaicans abroad whose families were baptised or married in buildings like Christ Church, migration is part of the story the administrator told. Heritage buildings in rural towns depend on people who have left as much as on those who stayed, and a relatively small annual contribution from former members overseas can be the difference between maintaining a landmark and watching it decline.

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