Agia Marina Kelokedaron is a small village in Paphos. Its average altitude is 490 meters and it is situated 26 km northeastern of the center of Paphos.
The main cultivations of the village are cereals, pulse, forage plants, vineyards, almond trees, olive trees and locust trees.
The population of this remote village had a stable increase from 1881 to 1960. In 1881 one hundred thirty nine people arrived in the village. In 1921 they number had increased to 197, in 1946 they became 239 and in 1960 the inhabitants were 291. In the sixties, the population has decreased due to the urbanism and the immigration of the inhabitants. So in 1971 there were only 168 people and in 1982 they decreased to 99. The last census of the population in 2001 has showed that the inhabitants were only 31.
Many inhabitants of the village have recruited the forces of the First and Second World War in several European cities. Despite the poverty that prevailed, the majority of the families had many children.
It is believed that during the Turkish occupation, the village was built on the location of “Tzira Eleousa” near “Xeropotamos” and near “Nata” where there are still remnants of the old church.
After a period of persecutions and slaughters by the Turks, the people who survived have moved from “Tzira Eleousa” to the present location of the village. This new location is called Saint George and it is near the church of Agia Marina. A part of this old church still exists.
For the same reasons which are mentioned above, some inhabitants moved to another village called Agia Marina. In the same village both Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots lived together until 1923, when after a conflict the Turks left the village.
Agia Marina is situated on a mountainous area and the habitants were occupied with agriculture and farming until 1967. In 1950 the inhabitants began to immigrate in England and Australia and after 1967 a great number of villagers moved in the big cities.
During the fifties and the sixties there was no irrigation system in the village. There were though two traditional taps with arches, in two different places and the villagers took the water they needed from there. These taps still stand until now but the date of construction is unknown.
It is said that the village was named Agia Marina because the inhabitants wanted to differentiate it from the other Turkish villages, which were in the area. The other part of the name “Kelokedaron” was given because of the village “Kelokedara”, which is near Agia Marina. There was also another village with almost the same name: the village Agia Marina Chysochous, so they needed to change this name a bit. We must note that in the village lived also some Turkish Cypriots.
The only exit of the village was a path, which led to two other communities and from there to Paphos. In 1960, the inhabitants decided to construct a new road by themselves, which would unite Agia Marina Kelokedaron with Paphos.
So they begun using pickaxe and shovels and they actually opened a new road 4km long that led to the vicinal village “Amaryeti”. The new road has helped the village as they could communicate with the center of Paphos and get easier and faster anything they needed. But at the same time, a great number of people began moving in other cities in order to ameliorate their lives and the village started to depopulate.
Source: Community Council of Agia Marina Kelokedaron