No. 684 - Margate - The former Methodist Church (1901-1974)

-
Margate is a coastal town on the Channel Highway approximately 7 kilometres south of Kingston. The original settlement was closer to the sea however the modern commuter town is now centred along the highway where the town’s churches are located.

Margate’s Methodist church closed almost 50 years ago when the building was purchased by the Christian Brethren. It is now known as the Margate Christian Church.

The early history of Methodism at Margate is unclear. In ‘Tasmanian Methodism’ written by Reverend Max Stansall, he states that the records of Methodist activity in Margate have not survived but the church was established as a result of a “venture of the Worsley family”.

Published accounts of the church’s early years are minimal. While the Hobart Mercury published a report on the ceremonial laying of the church’s foundation stone in October 1901, the copy of the report is badly faded and difficult to read. However, a few basic facts can be deciphered. 

Methodism at Margate dates back to the late 1860’s with early services held in homes before a simple church was built. This building fell into a state of disrepair and services were moved to the local State school. Here the congregation “severely taxed the room at times”, which led to a decision to build a second church on land purchased “on the corner of Cross-road and Perrin’s-road”. The church’s foundation stone records that it was was laid by Captain J.W. Evans, the local member of the Legislative Assembly, on Wednesday 30 October 1901. However, the Mercury’s report states that Captain Evans was unable to attend the ceremony and that the stone was instead laid by Reverend Alex McCallum. The church was built by local contractor, Ernest Tew at a “contract price of £87”. There is no surviving record of the church’s official opening but this occurred in the latter half of February 1902. 


The subsequent history of the church is only sporadically covered by the local press.  The Christian Brethren acquired the building in 1974 but the Methodists continued to hold a monthly service under an arrangement with the Brethren.

Additional information and sources about the church and building are most welcome as all articles are updated. I can be contacted through this page or my Facebook page "Churches of Tasmania" which is linked here: <Churches of Tasmania>




Although the church's foundation stone records that it was laid by Captain J.W. Evan's, it was in fact laid by Reverend Alex McCallum it Evan's absence.

The Mercury, Wednesday 9 October 1901


Sources:

Mercury, Friday 1 November 1901, page 2
Mercury, Wednesday 9 October 1901, page 3
Mercury, Tuesday 1 April 1902, page 3

Stansall, M. E. J and Methodist Church of Australasia Tasmanian Methodism, 1820-1975 : compiled at the time of last Meeting of Methodism prior to union. Methodist Church of Australasia, Launceston, Tas, 1975.

Comments

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