It is situated in the capital Jamestown and is the oldest Anglican Church in the southern hemisphere; the present building was put up in 1774.

Because of the strategic importance of Saint Helena as a fortress and staging post on the way home from India, the Company claimed the island on 5 May 1659.

The building of the fort was commenced immediately and a little town sprang up in the valley with the chapel and was subsequently named Jamestown, after James, Duke of York.

In 1671, the East India Company sent the first of a long sequence of Church of England chaplains.

By 1774 the first parish church in Jamestown showed signs of decay, and so finally a new building was erected.