Onsuri Anglican Church (Ganghwa)

In Onsu-ri, a village in Gilsang-myeon on the south side of Ganghwa Island, a church with a tiled hanok roof sits on a low hill. Onsuri Anglican Church was built in 1906 by the English missionary priest Mark Napier Trollope (Korean name Jo Ma-ga). From outside it looks much like a Confucian school or a government office of the time; only the crosses on the roof ridge and the worship space inside tell you it is a church. Its formal name is St Andrew's Church of the Anglican Diocese of Seoul.

A church that grew out of a clinic

Trollope was one of the English priests who came out with Bishop Charles John Corfe, the first Anglican bishop in Korea, who arrived in 1890; he was posted to Ganghwa in 1896. The Anglican Church took root on the island with relatively little friction. In Onsu-ri an English doctor, A. F. Laws, ran a clinic that treated more than 3,000 patients a year, and the congregation grew as a result. The church was reportedly built not with English mission money but with land and funds given by the local faithful. It used Ganghwa pine and followed a building style that villagers knew well.

Next to it stands the rectory, which Trollope built in 1898. When it fell into disrepair it was restored to its original form in 1933. Built as a single-depth house in a U shape, it shows how an English priest adapted his daily life to a Korean home and how carpenters translated English requests into traditional techniques. For that reason it is protected separately from the church as Incheon Tangible Cultural Heritage.

What to see

• Two-storey bell gate: the first building you reach at the top of the steps. Of its three bays, the middle one rises into a two-storey belfry, and the ground floor served as the gate through which the faithful entered.
• Hanok nave: a hip-and-gable roofed hall three bays wide and nine bays deep. Inside, columns line a central aisle in the manner of a Western basilica, so it is a hanok outside and a church inside. The rafters are left bare, without painted decoration.
• Lotus stone crosses: at each end of the roof ridge sits a stone cross with gently curved, lotus-like arms. Without them you could easily walk past without realising this is a church.
• New church and memorials: beside the old church is a new church consecrated in 2004. The grounds hold the grave of independence activist Kim Yeo-su (1922–1945) and a memorial to Father Jo Gwang-won (1897–1972), recalling that the 1919 independence movement reached this village too.

Tripto tips

• Time needed: 30 minutes to an hour for the church, rectory and grounds.
• Etiquette: take your shoes off before entering the old church. It is still a place of worship, so visits may not be possible during services; keep your voice down.
• Combine with: Jeondeungsa Temple is about 1 km away, close enough to walk. Add the Anglican Cathedral in Ganghwa town to compare the island's two hanok churches.
• Getting there: seated bus 60-5 from Gimpo Airport passes through Onsu-ri on its way to Ganghwa Bus Terminal (17 runs a day). From Sinchon in Seoul, take bus 3000 to Ganghwa Bus Terminal and change to the circular county buses 3 or 4, which pass Onsu-ri and Jeondeungsa.
• Parking: available within the church grounds.