St. George's Shrine, Kulathuvayal

The Syro-Malabar Forane Church of St. George at Kulathuvayal is a Catholic pilgrimage church near Perambra in Kozhikode district. It grew out of the migration of families from central Travancore to Malabar in the 1920s and 1930s, when the nearest church was at Vadakara. Fr. Joseph Peediekkal founded it in 1941 on ten acres at the top of Kulathuvayal hill given by Janab Moythu Sahib, at first as a thatched shed paid for by small collections at prayer meetings. In 1943 a sturdier church on granite pillars was built, largely with gold ornaments given by about 25 families.

The settlers suffered badly from forest fevers in those years, and on some days thirteen burials took place in the church cemetery. The first vicar, Fr. Thomas Ayilloor, went from house to house carrying tablets in his pockets that saved hundreds, and founded churches and schools across the area. A later vicar, Msgr. C. J. Varkey Kuzhikulam, built a new church with a balcony and an eighty-foot tower.