Thousands of enslaved Africans were imprisoned inside the dark underground dungeons of Cape Coast Castle in colonial Ghana before being forced onto slave ships crossing the Atlantic. Directly above one of those dungeons stood the Church of England Chapel, where British colonial officials worshipped while enslaved Africans suffered beneath them.
For centuries, the massive white fortress served as a prison for enslaved Africans captured across West Africa before they were forced onto slave ships bound for the Americas. Beneath its stone walls were dark underground dungeons where human beings were packed together in suffocating conditions.
One of the most horrifying details about Cape Coast Castle, however, was not only the suffering below, but what existed directly above it.
Inside the castle stood the Church of England Chapel, an Anglican worship space used by British colonial officials, merchants, soldiers, and administrators during the era of the slave trade. The chapel was built directly above the male slave dungeon where thousands of enslaved African men were imprisoned.
While prayers and hymns echoed through the chapel upstairs, chained prisoners sat in darkness beneath the floorboards below.
Cape Coast Castle was originally established by European traders in the 17th century and later became one of Britain’s most important slave-trading centers in West Africa. Over time, the structure expanded into a heavily fortified colonial castle overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
The castle served multiple purposes. It functioned as a military fortress, an administrative headquarters, a residence for European officials, and a holding center for enslaved Africans awaiting transportation across the Atlantic.
Its design reflected the brutal hierarchy of the slave trade itself.
European officers occupied airy upper rooms with sea views and fresh coastal breeze. Beneath them, enslaved Africans were confined underground in cramped stone dungeons with little light or ventilation.
The male dungeon directly below the Church of England Chapel reportedly held hundreds of prisoners at a time. Men were chained together in unbearable heat while human waste accumulated on the floor around them. Disease spread rapidly through the overcrowded space. Many captives died before ever reaching the slave ships waiting offshore.
For the enslaved Africans trapped below, the dungeon was a place of darkness, thirst, sickness, and terror. For the colonial officials above, the chapel represented worship and religious devotion.
That physical closeness between the chapel and the dungeon is what continues to disturb historians and visitors today. Only a single floor separated Christian worshippers from imprisoned Africans suffering beneath them.
The castle also contained female dungeons, punishment cells, soldiers’ quarters, trading offices, and the infamous “Door of No Return,” the final passage many enslaved Africans walked through before boarding slave ships crossing the Atlantic.
Women imprisoned inside the castle often faced additional horrors. Historical accounts describe how some were selected from the female dungeons by European officials and sexually abused within the fortress walls.
Today, Cape Coast Castle is preserved as part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing covering Ghana’s forts and castles, recognized for their connection to the transatlantic slave trade and colonial history. The site now receives visitors from around the world, including descendants of enslaved Africans seeking to understand the experiences of those who passed through its gates.
Visitors touring Cape Coast Castle frequently describe the chapel-over-dungeon arrangement as one of its most haunting features. Guides often lead people from the bright upper levels of the castle into the suffocating darkness of the underground cells, forcing them to confront the contrast between the two worlds that once existed inside the same structure.
The Church of England Chapel still stands as part of the preserved castle complex, a painful symbol of how religion and slavery became intertwined during European expansion in West Africa.
Above all, Cape Coast Castle confronts visitors with an uncomfortable reality: while enslaved Africans suffered beneath the ground in chains, Christian worship continued directly above them.
Sources
https://livingchurch.org/news/news-anglican-communion/acc-members-visit-slave-castle-reflect-and-repent/
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