26 November, 2004
The Tale of Two Churches
The destruction of the two historic Roman Catholic churches at Portsmouth and Vieille Case by the earthquake on the morning of 21 November 2004 has removed two significant landmarks from the existing architectural heritage of Dominica.

The manner in which they were built, and the circumstances surrounding their construction tells us much about why they collapsed. There have been several erroneous dates banded about during the last two weeks relating to the time that they were built. By piecing together the records on these two important buildings we can get a more accurate idea of their existence. Construction of the Vieille Case church was begun in 1853 and it was finally completed in 1869, while work on the St. John's Church at Portsmouth was started in 1855 and was completed in early 1868.

Both churches were designed by parish priests who were neither trained architects nor builders, despite their general knowledge of building construction and their faith and determination to erect these places of worship. They remembered the medieval churches of their youth back home in France and were keen to apply these architectural styles to the churches that they chose to build during their missions in Dominica.

Both churches were constructed mainly by volunteer labour. Parishioners gave a number of free days work each month and materials were gathered from the seashore, riverbanks and cliff sides nearby. Both were built over a period of several years on tight budgets and many structural changes were made as the buildings progressed, while later additions took little concern for the strength of what they were building upon.

Both were built largely of uncut round volcanic stone rubble mixed with limestone 'la chaud' mortar. Only the corners, arches, door and window frames were set with cut stone. In both cases, stone towers and steeples were added as afterthoughts following the completion of the main buildings. And these were the most vulnerable points when the earthquake struck, pulling the adjoining parts of the building with them as they collapsed.

Wooden buildings with thatch and shingle roofs had acted as churches for both parishes prior to the construction of stone buildings. The social impetus for their construction was the great surge of Roman Catholic evangelisation across the island that followed the full emancipation of the enslaved population in 1838. Reports on the construction of churches are interspersed with the latest statistics on the baptism and confirmation of both adults and children newly heralded into the flock. These churches therefore are also symbols of the post-slavery Christianisation of Dominica.

 

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