Diocese of St Helena  The Diocese of Saint Helena is an Anglican diocese within the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It covers the islands of Saint Helena and Ascension in the Atlantic Ocean and was created in 1859. St Paul's Cathedral is on Saint Helena. In 1502, an uninhabited island was discovered by the Portuguese admiral, João da Nova. The traditional date of this discovery was long thought to be 21 May, but the results of an investigation into the timing of the discovery published in 2015 concluded this date is probably wrong and that 3 May seems historically more valid. By tradition, Da Nova anchored in the lee of the island opposite a deep valley in the lee of the island opposite a deep valley. A timber chapel was built in the valley which later became the site of Jamestown. The island was named Santa Helena, later anglicised as St Helena. Portugal, Spain, the Dutch Republic and England all took an interest in the island as a place to refresh ships and sailors on long voyages. The English Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell granted a new charter to the East India Company in 1657, which gave the Company the right to fortify and colonise any of its establishments. Because of the strategic importance of St Helena as a fortress and staging post on the way home from India, the Company claimed the Island on 5 May 1659. The building of the fort was commenced immediately. A little town sprang up in the valley with the chapel and was subsequently named Jamestown, after King James II. In 1671, the East India Company sent the first of a long sequence of Church of England chaplains. The early, modest little church was replaced by a slightly bigger one in 1674, but was only later named St. James church. Another church ("the Country Church") was built shortly afterwards near the present St. Paul's church. By 1774 the first parish church in Jamestown showed signs of decay, and so finally a new building was erected. James' is the oldest surviving Anglican church south of the Equator. On 7 March 1849 the first bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray, arrived to conduct the confirmations on the island. Bishop Gray made a further two visits in 1852 and 1857. Ten years later, in 1859, the Diocese of St. Helena was established by Queen's Order in Council, and included the islands of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Furthermore, until 1869 the diocese also included the British residents of Rio de Janeiro and other towns on the eastern seaboard of South America as well as the Falklands.