In This British-Era Church Cemetery In Kerala, A Horse Is Buried Next To Its Owner

A forgotten piece of the region's history dating back to British rule is along the side of the busy road between Kottayam and Kattappan in Kerala's Idukki district.

Three kilometres away from the hill station of Kuttikanam is the Saint George CSI Church, Pallikkunnu, which dates back to 1869.

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British-era church with a long history

Henry Baker Jr built the cross-shaped church on a 15-acre land gifted by the then-king of Travancore.

Like other churches of that period, it also has several tombs of Britishers, both officers of the East India Company and planters who introduced tea and other cash crops to the hills, which continue to be planted to this date.

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In fact, out of the 38 tombs, 36 are of people of British, Scottish, or Irish roots, and just one is of an Indian.

One of the youngest persons to be buried here was a two-year-old girl called Bridget Mary.

Though the Gothic-style church was handed over to the Church of South India (CSI) following the departure of the British, the cemetery is still under the British high commissioner's control.

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Horse buried in Church cemetery

But out of the 38 tombs at the ancient church's graveyard, one stands out.

Among the ruins and over-grown Cyprus trees, at one of the forgotten corners is a tombstone that reads 'Downy a white horse mare owned by JD Munro'.

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Adjacent to it is the tomb of John Daniel Munro himself.

Who was John Daniel Munro?

JD Scottish-origin Munro was the son of Urban Vigors Munro, Conservator of Forests of Travancore, and Matilda Munro n¨¦e Kohlhoff, and grandson of General John Munro of Teaninch, who had served as British Resident and Diwan of Travancore.

As a planter JD Munro is credited with opening up the Cardamon Hills for plantation, and he himself was a tea planter.

One of the early tea plantations in Peermade, Ashley Estate which dates back to 1862 by Henry Baker, the father-in-law of Munro, exists even today.

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Discovering Munnar

One of the biggest 'achievements' of Munro is the 'discovery' of Munnar, the famous hill station in the Idukki district.

It is said that, in the 1870s, Munro, who was the then British Resident of Travancore kingdom, visited Munnar to settle the border dispute between Travancore and Madras.

He fell in love with the hills of Munnar that were under the Poonjar royal family and got 1,36,600 acres of the Kannan Devan hills leased for a tea plantation for an annual lease rent of Rs. 3,000 and a security deposit of Rs. 5,000. The Tata Group currently owns Kanan Devan Hills.

Kerala Tourism

Owner wanted horse buried near him

Munro died on February 18, 1895, at the age of 61, and he had expressed a desire that his beloved horse, Downy, be buried next to him. "There shall be no more death",- reads the inscription on his tombstone.

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Though it was unusual at the time, the church authorities agreed to his demand, and when Downy died, it was laid to rest next to its owner, a first for a church cemetery.

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Brits come in search of their loved ones

Today the legacy of Munro is largely forgotten, but the Church even now attracts visitors from England, Scotland, and Ireland by British people searching for the land their forefathers lived and were laid to rest.

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