| Administrative History | The Anglican church at Sagalla, Kenya, was opened 8 December 1901. Dedicated to St Mark, it was erected during Joseph Alfred Wray's years as a missionary with the CMS Eastern Equatorial Africa Mission. Wray, a former engineer, established the CMS mission station at Taita and saw the construction of the church at Sagalla, 'a church of corrugated iron, with red roof, and a small spire'. Local people gave the land on which the church was built, and the purchase and transport of the church from England, was partly financed from the sale of products made from an ebony tree which had stood on the land. Weighing over ten tons, in the final stages of the journey, it was transported on the Uganda railway as far as Voi, from there, it ws carried up to Sagalla in pieces by men, women and children undertaking the 20-24 mile round trip without pay.
Source: Rev B. G. O'Rorke, 'Words by an Eye-witness', in The Church Missionary Gleaner, 1 September 1908, page 138. News of work in East Africa under the heading, 'The Church at the Ebony Tree', in The Church Missionary Gleaner, 2 September 1901, page 139. |
| Custodial History | Presented by S. W. Liszka, USA, May 1973. |