St Luke's Church, Abbottabad: History and Visiting

St Luke's Church (Saint Luke's, also written St Lukes Church) is Abbottabad's oldest church, a cut-stone Gothic Revival building on Jinnah Road begun in 1854 or 1855 and consecrated in 1864. It is still a working Anglican church of the Diocese of Peshawar, so a visit is short and informal: ask at the gate, look at the stained glass, the old locks and the memorial plaques, and leave before the next service.

This guide covers its history, what to look for inside, the old cemetery that belongs to the parish, how to find it and how to fit it into a day in Abbottabad.

How old is St Luke's Church?

Abbottabad itself only dates from January 1853, when James Abbott, the first deputy commissioner of Hazara, founded the town that took his name. Work on a church began two years later, in 1854 or 1855. Fundraising was slow, and the 1857 uprising stopped work for a time.

The church was finished and consecrated by the Bishop of Calcutta in 1864. The parish register records the Archdeacon of Rawalpindi's entry for 25 November that year, and the Revd P. Kellner became the first regular vicar and chaplain from late November 1864.

Before that, the town's small Christian community had no chaplain of its own. Services were taken by visiting clergy from Peshawar or Rawalpindi, or by chaplains of regiments in the cantonment, especially the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles, which had a long connection with the church.

A parish that covered all of Hazara

St Luke's was the mother church for most of Hazara. Its parish took in Haripur, Mansehra and the Galyat hill stations, including the small seasonal churches at Nathia Gali, Dunga Gali and Thandiani. One of those survives as a visitor stop in its own right: see our guide to St Matthew's Church, Nathia Gali.

What happened after 1947

The church was shut from June 1947 to April 1948 during the upheaval of Partition. Services restarted when the Revd Daniel Rashid of Peshawar was given visiting charge of Abbottabad and Hazara. He was followed by the Revd J. H. Hewitt in 1951, and then by a local curate, Z. K. Daniels, who became chaplain in 1965.

In 1970 the Anglican, Scottish Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran churches in Pakistan united as the Church of Pakistan, and St Luke's was placed in its Peshawar diocese. Full-time clergy have served it since.

Arab News reported in 2024 that local estimates put Abbottabad's Christian community at around 4,000. The church seats about 150, and the courtyard takes the overflow at Christmas and Easter.

What to look for inside

The priest at St Luke's, the Revd Rafiq Javed, described the building to Arab News in 2024. The outer walls are stone, cut and laid by hand. The inner walls were made from a mix of mud, lentils, jute and sawdust bound with a paste of eggs, which he said were supplied by local Hindu and Muslim residents who helped build the church.

Things worth a look:

• The stained-glass windows, which are original.
• The old iron locks and their very large keys.
• Memorial plaques on the walls, some dating from 1865, remembering British soldiers.
• The pipe organ in the foyer. Water damage put it out of use about 50 years ago, and it has not been restored.
• The boot scraper fixed to a step at the entrance, used by soldiers to clean mud off their boots before going in.

Local Christians say the land was given in Queen Victoria's name and that one gate is named after her. That is the community's account rather than a documented fact, but it is part of how the church is remembered.

The Old Christian Cemetery

The town's Old Christian Cemetery, known locally as the Gora Qabristan, was laid out in 1853, the year Abbottabad was founded, and has belonged to St Luke's since 1864. Church records list more than 300 burials before 1947. After long neglect, around 70 to 80 of those older graves still survive and can be identified.

Among them are graves connected with the frontier campaigns, including Major Leigh Richmond Battye and Major Hugh Rees James, and Lady Julia Palmer, who died in 1896, the first wife of General Sir Arthur Power Palmer, later Commander-in-Chief in India. A Muslim family has looked after the cemetery since about 1902; before that, two retired Gurkha soldiers did the job.

The cemetery is a separate site from the church. Ask at St Luke's for directions and whether it is open.

How to get there

From Islamabad. About 108 km from Zero Point by the M-1 and the Hazara Motorway (M-15). Routing tools give about an hour and a half; allow two hours with traffic in Abbottabad. Our Islamabad to Abbottabad guide covers the road and the bus options.

From Peshawar. About 190 km by motorway, usually more than two hours.

In town. OpenStreetMap places the church on Jinnah Road, next to the Abbottabad Club and about 300 metres from Lady Garden Park. The general bus stand is about 1.5 km away, a short rickshaw ride, and the Daewoo terminal about 6 km.

Visiting respectfully

St Luke's is a place of worship, not a museum. There is no ticket counter and no published visiting timetable.

• Go outside service times. Sunday is the main day of worship, so a weekday visit is easier.
• Ask at the gate before walking in, and keep the visit short if a service or private event is on.
• Ask before photographing people, plaques or the interior.
• Dress modestly and keep voices low.
• Don't fly a drone. Abbottabad is a garrison town with military buildings close to the centre.

Current situation. On 11 October 2026 the federal government imposed an emergency and governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with army troops deployed in aid of the civil power. Dawn reported roads blocked with containers in Peshawar and mobile data slowed or cut in parts of some cities. Hazara is not on the UK's list of areas to avoid, but its advice now tells visitors to the province to avoid protests and check routes before travelling. Check local news before you set out.

Fitting it into a day in Abbottabad

The church takes 20 to 30 minutes. Combine it with:

• Lady Garden Park, a few minutes' walk away, where a marble plaque carries James Abbott's poem about the town.
• Ilyasi Mosque, about 6 km away; see our Ilyasi Mosque guide.
• Shimla Hill, the viewpoint above the town; see our Shimla Hill guide.

Our places to visit in Abbottabad guide covers the rest of the town.

Is it worth the stop?

If you are in Abbottabad and curious about how the town began, yes: it is the most complete surviving building from the town's first decade, and it is still in use. Visitors interested in colonial history will get the most from it, especially if they also find the cemetery.

It is not worth a special trip from Islamabad on its own, and families after a sightseeing day will find Shimla Hill or the drive to Thandiani more rewarding.

Frequently asked questions