Historical and Heritage Sites
Find out some rather interesting facts about Sierra Leone's historical and heritage sights. Read through information on Bunce Island, National Railway Museum, The Martello Tower, Old Fourah Bay College, The Gateway to the Old King's Yard and much more.
St John's Maroon Church
This church was built by the Maroons who arrived in the colony in 1800 as black returnees from Jamaica who were reputed to be accomplished stone masons. It is thought they converted to Christianity through the influence of the Nova Scotians who were already in the Colony. The church erected in 1822, was seen as a determination of the converts to hold on to their new found faith. A small group, the church was nonetheless at the centre for religious and social activities for the people of Maroon Town – which was around the area from Walpole Street to Kingtom. The Maroon Church is among the oldest churches in Sierra Leone. It stands between current day Liverpool Street and Percival Street. 
These flights of stone steps are one of the stone architecture erected during the governorship of Governor Charles Macarthy. They lead down from Wallace Johnson Street and were completed in 1818. They are often wrongly referred to as the “Portuguese Steps”. The Guard House at the top of the steps was built in 1819. The Steps and Guard House are in urgent need of refurbishment. 
As the Liberated African Villages grew, it was decided that structures had to be established to cater for the spiritual and educational welfare of the emerging communities. The government agreed to finance the construction of schools and churches. In 1816, the government financed the building of a stone church the Regent, one of the Liberated African Villages. St. Charles, named after Charles MacCarthy, was the first stone church to be built in West Africa.
As the drive to make the Sierra Leone Colony a Christian community continued, Governor Maxwell sent a memo to the Secretary of State for the colonies requesting the construction of a church to serve as a place of worship for the citizens. The foundation was laid in 1817 by Governor MacCarthy and construction was complete 11 years later well over budget and time.
After the Abolition Act had come into effect and Sierra Leone had become a British Colony, the Navy were mostly involved in trying to intercept the still on-going Slave Traffic. One of the most effective vessels charged with this responsibility was ironically a former slave vessel itself, the Black Joke, formerly called the Henriquita.