205-year-old witness to a Kolkata’s evolution blown away by storm of the century – Times of India

Kolkata News

The black weather cock atop the slender spire of the St Andrew’s Church on Brabourne Road was blown away by th…Read More

KOLKATA: A 205-year-old church in the heart of Kolkata, which has survived two world wars, the Spanish flu, several cyclones and partition of the country, lost a part of its legacy to cyclone Amphan on Wednesday.
The black weather cock atop the slender spire of the St Andrew’s Church on Brabourne Road was blown away by the gusts of the cyclone. A search party could not locate it till Thursday evening. “We have only been able to trace a small piece of one of the wings of the cock till now,” said Reverend Father Swarup Bar.
The weather cock that weighed over 100 kilograms was as old as the church, which was built in 1815.
Three huge trees on its premises also fell during the cyclone, completely breaking the boundary wall on the western part of the iconic church facing Writers’ Buildings.
The church authorities fear that the weather cock has been broken into pieces and there is little chance that it would make a comeback atop the spire again.
“Everybody inside the church is, however, fine and nobody has been hurt in the cyclone. The main church is safe too,” Father Bar told TOI.
A church functionary said: “Some of us went out in the neighbouring areas but could not trace it. The wind was so strong that the broken pieces must have been flown away very far.”
St Andrew’s began as a church for the Scottish Presbyterian Christians of the East India Company. There are elegant doric pillars on either side of the church and the high spire can be spotted from afar.
St John’s Church on Council House street has also suffered some damage with three trees inside the compound crashing down. “The pathways have been blocked and a portion of the boundary wall has collapsed,” said an official.
The Old Mission Church on R N Mukherjee Road, which has witnessed two world wars and withstood the Great Cyclone and “Assam Earthquake”, was also affected with several trees crashing on the premises and breaking the boundary walls.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/205-year-old-witness-to-a-kolkatas-evolution-blown-away-by-storm-of-the-century/articleshow/75887854.cms