The old St James the epiphany of Quop Hill

by Joseph Masilamany, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 23, 2014, Sunday

THE old rugged Church of St James which sits on a hill in Kam-pung Quop, no longer sings a liturgical song.

The muted sound of its now choirless sanctuary is deafening. Its once thunderous pulpit from which sprung fire and brim-stone is desolately silent.

But there is something mesmeric about a derelict old church building as St James. There seems to be a certain kind of compelling charm about it. In its woodwork, its tabernacle in the numerous crafted decorative embellishments and its lone stained glass, the old St James still retains a palpable aura of its erstwhile epiphany.

On the same hill, next to the old St James of 1865 is the new St James built in 1986 and consecrated in 1987. A new wellspring from the fountain of old, the new Church of St James, blessed with an exceptionally talented choir, continues to shine with the Anglican brand of missionary zeal while the old rugged church, now mellowed in its quaint and sublime hallowedness, has become a sedate piece of arcane history.

A prefabricated building made of belian wood, it was among the few such churches built in Sarawak during the early years of Anglican fervour to nurture the gospel in the state, and is the only one still standing.

According to a page from the past, the assembling of the prefabricated parts for the church started in 1863. The components were assembled in Kuching, 20km away, and transported upriver to Kampung Quop via the Sarawak and Quop Rivers.

The construction of the church was initiated by Fr William Abe, a pioneer missionary who, among others, pastored the rising new Anglican community of Kampung Quop in the 1800s. Renowned carpenter TA Stahl supervised the carpentry work.

A souvenir magazine of the parish published in 2010 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Quop parish community reported that the heavy pre-fabricated woodwork was borne by villagers on their shoulders.

It was carried from the jetty at the Quop River through dense jungle to its location on the hill. It was an arduous task as belian wood (ironwood) is heavy and burdensome.

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The old St James the epiphany of Quop Hill