No. 1074 - Claremont - Plymouth Brethren Christian Church

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Claremont is a suburb of the City of Glenorchy within the Greater Hobart region. It is named after Claremont House built in the 1830s by Henry Bilton. Claremont was once the site of an army training camp established during the Great War. At this time the area had only a few scattered houses and a railway station in a largely rural setting. From the 1950s public housing was built at Claremont which resulted in significant population growth.

Claremont’s Plymouth Brethren church is located on Abbottsfield Road. As with most Brethren churches, access to the site is restricted and information about the building is almost non-existent. The site was acquired in 2011 and building commenced some time after this.

The Exclusive Christian Brethren, now known as the Plymouth Brethren, originated in Plymouth, Great Britain, in the 1820s. By the mid 19th century the Christian Brethren became established in Australia.

The 'Exclusive Brethren' is a restrictive group which broke away from the original Christian Brethren in 1848. In 2012 the Exclusive Brethren adopted the name 'Plymouth Brethren Christian Church’. Tasmanian Plymouth Brethren churches are part of global organisation with about 50 000 members. The Plymouth Brethren are notorious for avoiding social interaction with people outside the faith, which has contributed to the denomination being considered a Christian sect.

With very limited contact with the secular world and the Brethren’s determination to be invisible to the outside world or any public scrutiny, no more than a cursory ‘history’ of this church is possible.











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