- Date of Dedication
- 1880
- Archdeaconry
- Nuwara Eliya Archdeaconry
- Vicar
- Revd. S. K. Daniel
The Church of St. Margaret at Forest Creek was built by plans supplied by a London architect. At that time, there was a connection with the English parish of Homewood in Surrey. It is situated about 10 km from Hatton along the Nuwara-Eliya Road. The origin of the Church begins with the plantation Churches built in the 19 century. The districts now known as Dimbulla and Dickoya were originally uninhabited tracts of jungle patina, brought under cultivation by coffee and later tea planters. There were no district organizations and English services only were conducted in coffee stores or in planter’s bungalows at infrequent intervals by itinerating government stipendiary chaplains on circuit. These ministries were supplemented by unofficial and occasional assistance given by European clergy in charge of missionary work among the Tamil estate labour.
The first resident chaplain was Rev. W.H. Elton. His Incumbency lasted from 1874-1880.
On 25 September 1871, a meeting was held in Dimbula Chaired by the Bishop of Colombo. There was unanimous decision that the district must have its own Churches and support its own clergy. Plans were made to raise money for building and a chaplain’s stipend.
The stone laying ceremony of this Church took place in 1876. This Church was dedicated in the year 1880 by the Rev. W.H. Elton.
The first chaplain was the Rev. John Kemp, of sound record and classical scholarship. The Rev. Kemp came to Ceylon from Sarawak where he had been a Chaplain and a missionary under the S.P.G. for 3 years. He was the Chaplain for Dimbula Chaplaincy from 1873 to 1876. The first residential Chaplain for Dimbula Chaplaincy was the Rev. F.W.C. Rigby who served from 1877 to 1889.
The presence of a resident chaplain in each district naturally strengthened the movement to erect permanent Churches. Between 1875- 1880, 5 Churches were undertaken and completed. The original Dimbulla scheme provided for two Churches, one at Lindula and the other at Forest Creek, Kotagala was built from plans supplied by a London architect.
Originally Kotagala was part of the Dimbula parish where one priest looked after the needs of a vast area comprising of Lindula, Talankande, Agrapatana, Kotagala and Mayfield. It was found humanely impossible to cater to the religious needs of the entire parish by just one individual priest. Therefore, Kotagala Church was taken out of the Dimbula parish and made a separate independent unit with effect from 1999.
| Name | From | To | Remarks |
| Rev John Kemp | 1873 | 1876 | English |
| Rev F W C Rigby | 1877 | 1889 | |
| Rev Edwin Bellerby | 1889 | 1890 | |
| Rev C F Turner | 1891 | 1897 | |
| Rev C W Ford | 1897 | 1905 | |
| Rev A L Keith | 1905 | 1910 | |
| Rev W A Parton | 1910 | 1912 | |
| Rev W E Rowlands | 1912 | 1912 | TCM |
| Rev A K Finnimore | 1913 | 1914 | TCM |
| Rev Arthur Le Feuvre | 1914 | 1915 | |
| Rev W E Rowlands | 1915 | 1916 | TCM |
| Rev Victor Dunphy | 1916 | 1919 | |
| Rev A Pakkianathan | 1917 | 1927 | TCM |
| Rev H P Napier Clavering | 1919 | 1925 | |
| Rev R P Butterfield | 1926 | 1934 | |
| Rev H R Horsington | 1928 | 1929 | Tamil |
| Rev S Gnanamanickkan | 1931 | 1931 | Tamil |
| Rev G E P Paramenter | 1934 | 1937 | |
| Rev J Yorke | 1932 | 1933 | Tamil |
| Rev S P C David | 1934 | 1934 | Tamil |
| Rev R G Cartmel | 1937 | 1945 | |
| Rev H R Horsington | 1939 | 1943 | Tamil |
| Rev A Vethakkan | 1944 | 1946 | Tamil |
| Rev A B Champion | 1946 | 1948 | |
| Rev S Asirvatham | 1947 | 1947 | Tamil |
| Rev H R Horsinghton | 1948 | 1950 | Tamil |
| Rev J W L Timmins | 1951 | 1958 | |
| Rev H E Jones | 1959 | 1961 | |
| Rev Augustine Yorke | 1951 | 1951 | Tamil |
| Rev C Thambimuttu | 1952 | 1952 | Tamil |
| Rev Augustine Yorke | 1953 | 1963 | Tamil |
| Rev S D Horsington | 1962 | 1962 | |
| Rev R V L Pereira | 1963 | 1974 | |
| Rev J A R Navaretnam | 1964 | 1964 | Tamil |
| Rev Cornelius J Samuel | 1965 | 1971 | |
| Rev Jubilee S Ponniah | 1972 | 1976 | |
| Rev Augustine Philips | 1975 | 1976 | |
| Rev A Chinniah | 1977 | 1977 | |
| Rev Joshua V Ratnam | 1978 | 1981 | |
| Rev Christopher Daniel | 1982 | 1984 | |
| Rev Susantha Ranasinghe | 1985 | 1987 | |
| Rev Augustine Philips | 1988 | 1994 | |
| Rev Patrick Lawrence | 1995 | 1998 | |
| Rev S J Jeyaraj | 1997 | 1998 | |
| Rev S S Parimalachelvan | 1999 | 2000 | |
| Rev Philip A Jesudevan | 1999 | 2002 | Separated from Dimbula Parish in 99 |
| Rev Priyajayanth Paul | 2003 | 2003 | Asst. Curate |
| Rev S S Jebachelvan | 2004 | 2009 | Resident Priest/Vicar |
| Rev G Manoruban | 2010 | todate |
| Name | From | To | Remarks |
| Bro N Devadason | 1972 | 1977 Served as Catechist in the Parish | |
| Rev S Manickarajah | 1978 | 1984 Served as Catechist in the Parish | |
| Rev J Dharmaraj | 1985 | 1994 Served as Catechist in the Parish | |
| Sis S Asothamary | 1996 | 2000 Served as a Lay Worker | |
| Bro R Kannan | 2000 | 2000 Served as a Lay Worker | |
| Sis Selvarani Walter | 2001 | 2011 Served as a Lay Worker | |
| Bro J Paulraj | 2012 | - 2012- -Served as a Lay Worker | |
| The names of European Priests served in this church was abstracted from various old records available in the church and we do not have accurate records of them. | |||
Contact Details
- Postal Address
- St. Margaret's Church, Kotagala
- Telephone
- 0512 244 002
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