Church of American Ceylon Mission, Manipay

                                               Church of the American Ceylon Mission is a Church located in Manipay near to town. It is one of the 1196 churches in Sri Lanka..Franciscan missionaries built a Catholic Church at Manipay between 1621 and 1626, named after a town in Portugal Lady Do Porto, located in the surrounds of green paddy fields during the seventeenth century. Its frontage was 24` wide and 22` high, and the church 35` in length, built by lime stones. The building included an attached `brick-built-stage` where the Gospel stories were illustrated in drama. Later it was used by the Dutch as a Protestant Reformed Church, and subsequently under the British the building was left unused due to lack of worshipping members! It was later handed over to the American missionaries in 1820. Rev Henry and Mrs Lydia Woodward occupied the repaired Mission House. The tower and spire were later built according to the American architectural tradition. The Church and Mission House might have been repaired from time to time over the next 170 years. In 1987, when Rev J JRatnarajah was appointed at Manipay, he replaced the decaying roof with a new roof, which was to be rededicated at a certain date in 1988. The Church (and the Mission House) was brought to a presentable condition in the last few years. The church celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2005 (1831-2006).