St. Luke's Church, Sarikkamulla

“After the death of Rev. Francis De Mel, which took place on 29 September, 1883, his district was divided. Rev. H. Wickremanayake was put in charge of Horetuduwa and Sarikkamulla, and Panadura was attached to the district of Kalutara. Latterly Sarikkamula was annexed to Moratuwa and left in charge of Mr. Copleston; Lewis Fernando who was appointed Catechist on 10 August 1886, supervised the work there. The small chapel at Sarikkamulla(opened by Bishop Claughton in 1870), had for a considerable time been deserted and had fallen into disrepair. Mr. Copleston set at once to rebuild it and A.W. De Mel was most helpful in collecting subscriptions towards the restoration and in the still less pleasant task of superintending the work, so far as he had leisure from his duties at St. Thomas’ College. Services were held instead at the residence of Mututantrige Jospeh Fernando by Lewis Fernando(who was assisted by A.W. De Mel Catechist, Panadura). Just as the last tiles were put to the new roof, a serious catastrophe took place. One or two pillars gave way and the whole roof came down. A new building was soon erected and on 5 March 1887, the Chapel was opened for divine service by the Bishop.”

“In Rev. Johannes De Silva’s time, Horetuduwa was attached to Moratuwa and the branch parish of Horetuduwa and Sarikkamulla was formed. The Rev. A.W. De Mel who was left in charge of this branch, conducted the service in the Church at Horetuduwa. Mr. De Silva went there once a month to celebrate etc.’ and the service in the Chapel at Sarikkamulla was conducted by Lewis Fernando, the Catechist with Mr. De Silva’s occasional visits to preach and administer the sacraments.

St. Luke’s Sarikkamulla was the gift of Manuel De Mel of “Melrose.”The foundation stone was laid on 14 November, 1903 and the erection of the Church was begun under the supervision of J. Matthias De Mel. The ceremony of consecration came off on 10 September, 1904. Besides the Bishop , the following took part: Revs. J. De Silva, Jacob Mendis, C. De Mel and A.W. De Mel.”