No. 1138 - Pontville - Congregational Chapel (1857-1874)

-
Pontville’s origins date back to 1821 when Governor Macquarie selected a site on the Jordan River as the location for a military barracks. The origin of the name Pontville is unclear but it literally translates from the French as 'bridge town’. The village of Pontville was officially established in 1838.

The earliest Congregational services at Pontville were held at the local courthouse. They were led by Reverend Joseph Beazley, who had been appointed by the Colonial Missionary Society as minister at nearby Green Ponds (Kempton) .

In 1857 a small stone chapel was built above the banks of the River Jordan. It was located next to the old Congregational cemetery which was established in 1854. The chapel officially opened on Tuesday 16 June 1857. No description or image of the building is known to exist.

In early 1874 the foundations of the church began to subside making the building unsafe. The church’s trustees decided to build a new church on a site on the opposite bank of the Jordan River. While construction was underway religious services were temporarily held in the district police office.

Construction of the new church began in early 1875 and it was officially opened on 8 June 1876. After the new church was completed the old chapel was demolished and its stone was used to construct a ministers residence.


Notice of the chapel's opening - Hobart Town Advertiser, June 1857

The map shows the location of the original chapel (blue) and the new church (red)

The new church which opened in 1876

An early view of Pontville. The new Congregational church (1876) can be seen in the distance above the road descending to the bridge. Pontville's original Catholic church is also visible in the photograph. [source: Libraries Tasmania]


Sources:

Hobart Town Advertiser, Monday 15 June 1857, page 2
Hobart Town Advertiser, Thursday 18 February 1858, page 3
Mercury, Tuesday 30 March 1875, page 2

Sharples, Theo E. and Congregational Union of Tasmania. Congregationalism in Tasmania, 1830-1977 : a brief history / compiled by Theo E. Sharples Congregational Union of Tasmania Hobart 1977


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