No. 260 - The Cameron Street Wesleyan Chapel - "The Wickedness of the People of Launceston"

-
The Cameron Street Wesleyan Chapel, which opened in 1827, has the distinction of being the second church to be built at Launceston following the establishment of St John’s Anglican church in 1825. It only had a short existence as a chapel and it was prematurely closed in 1828. It was demolished in 1898 to make way for the new Holy Trinity Church. At the time of its demolition, the Examiner published a “sketch” on the building’s Wesleyan origins and subsequent history:

“The Wesleyans visited Launceston for the first time in 1822, but were very unfavourably impressed with the place, for the Rev. W. Horton, writing to Sydney for help, remarked, “The wickedness of the people of Launceston exceeds all description.” They did not remain then, but returned in 1826, and built a small chapel and parsonage … and the Rev. J. Hutchinson was placed in charge.

In 1828, however, or two years after, the Wesleyan Mission Society withdrew its aid, and the minister was withdrawn; the buildings were then sold, the Government becoming the, purchasers, and John Pascoe Fawkner, “the father of the colony of Victoria,” … was appointed trustee, and held the proceeds on behalf of those subscribers who contributed to their erection”.

Some of the money held in trust was subsequently donated to fund the construction of Launceston’s first Scottish National Church, in Lower Charles Street, which opened in 1833.

The Wesleyan Chapel and its adjacent parsonage were put to various uses over a period of 70 years. These included a Government infant school and a Sunday school. After it was acquired by the Holy Trinity Church, it was rented as a private school and was also the ‘birthplace’ of Launceston’s Mechanic’s Institute.

With the start of the construction of the new Holy Trinity Church in 1898, the Wesleyan Chapel was demolished. Although the building has been lost, its importance as the second church to be established in Launceston and one of Tasmania’s earliest churches is of great historical significance.

Link to the 1898 "sketch" appearing in the Launceston Examiner: HERE

A detail of the Wesleyan Chapel c.1895 - Source QVMAG Collection (QVM-1991-P-0107) 

The Wesleyan Chapel c.1895 - Source QVMAG Collection (QVM-1991-P-0107) 

An advertisement for first service in chapel -  Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser Friday 23 Feb 1827  Page 1

An advertisement for the first lecture of the Launceston Mechanics Institute which was held in the former chapel

Sources:

Colonial Times and Tasmanian Advertiser, Friday 23 Feb 1827  Page 1
Launceston Examiner, Saturday 16 April 1842  Page 2  (Advertising)
Launceston Examiner, Wednesday 9 February 1898  Page 5 

Dr Eric Ratcliff; From Chapel to Church: Nonconformist Building in Launceston, Launceston Historical Society Papers & Proceedings 2009 

Comments

  1. Patricia17 October 2018 at 00:38

    Thank you for this. Esh Lovell, the first preacher (who went on to become a Superintendent of Cascades Female Factory and afterwards to own Carrington House near Richmond) was my great great grandfather. His children, John Wesley and Ann Elizabeth, were born whilst the family lived in Launceston.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Churches of Tasmania

-
Image
I love history and photography and also have an interest in architecture. When I started this blog in 2017 I had the goal of photographing every historical church in Tasmania. This was initially driven by the proposed mass sell-off of Anglican churches. I was concerned that these buildings would be modified and no longer be accessible once in private hands. As the years have passed this goal has changed to writing short histories of each and every church built in Tasmania, of which there are about 1600.   My earliest posts are rather amateurish but my research and writing has improved somewhat over the years.  In time my hope is to revise and update every article to a publishable standard. I have received an overwhelming amount of material from followers of the blog and I will incorporate this into the articles in the revision phase. Eventually I hope to publish the best of the articles. At present the blog attracts about 1000 views per day and I hope that this will continue to grow. 
Read more

No. 624 - Dunalley - St Martin's Anglican Church - "In grateful memory of the men who fought in the Great War"

-
Image
Dunalley is village on the Arthur Highway approximately 60 kilometres east of Hobart. It stands on the narrow isthmus connected to the Forestier Peninsula. The Denison Canal runs through the village and connects Blackman Bay and Fredrick Henry Bay. Dunalley was badly affected by bushfires in January 2013 with the town losing over 60 buildings including the Police Station and school. St Martin’s is the only public building left standing after the fires. St Martin’s Anglican has recently featured in the news following its sale. It is one of over 50 churches to be sold to meet the Anglican Church’s commitment to the National Redress Scheme. St Martin’s is an unusual church into two respects. Firstly, it is constructed from stone from the former Government stores at the old Coal Mines penal station at Saltwater River, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Secondly, the church was built as a memorial to the men of the district who fought and died in the Great War. As such, the buildin
Read more

No. 592 - Gretna - St Mary the Virgin - "Worthy of Imitation"

-
Image
Gretna is a small township in the Derwent Valley approximately 60 kilometres from Hobart. The area was originally known as Stony Plains Hut and Macquarie Plains. The name Gretna was adopted in the early 20th century. The origin of this name comes from a local farm called ‘Gretna Green’ and also an Inn established in the 1860’s which bore the same name. Another Inn, the Woolpack Inn, was the scene of a gunfight between the bushranger Martin Cash and members of the local constabulary. Gretna’s only church stood a few hundred metres from the inn and Cash and his gang hid in the bush near the church until nightfall prior to raiding the Inn. For many years St Mary’s was known as “The Woolpack Church”. St Mary’s the Virgin was built in 1847 and was opened and consecrated by Bishop Nixon on 1 June 1848. At the service, Edward Terry, the owner of Askrigg estate presented the deed of land on which the church was built to Bishop Nixon. Before the church was erected it is believed that Anglican s
Read more