No. 1192 - Bellerive - Cotham Church Hall (1938)

-
This article is one in a series about buildings associated with some of Tasmania’s most significant churches. These buildings include Sunday schools, parish halls, convents, schools and residences of the clergy. Ancillary buildings are often overlooked and are rarely featured in published histories. My aim is to create a simple record of these buildings, including those that no longer exist.

Bellerive is a suburb of Greater Hobart located on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River. The area was originally called Kangaroo Point but in the 1830s this was changed to Bellerive, meaning ‘beautiful shore’.

The 1930s was a period of significant activity for the Catholic Church on the East Shore. In 1935 Father Francis Kent was appointed to the Richmond parochial district, which embraced Bellerive and other centres on the eastern side of the Derwent. In 1936 Corpus Christi ‘church-school' was opened and Mass was held at the school until such time that a church could be built. Another ‘church-school’, St Cuthbert’s, opened at neighbouring Lindisfarne in 1938.

In 1938 a church hall was built at Bellerive to accomodate church and social activities associated with Corpus Christi ‘church-school’. It was named the Cotham Hall in honour of Father James Cotham, a pioneering priest of the Richmond district.

Cotham Hall was opened and blessed by Archbishop Simonds on Sunday 10 April 1938. Also attending the ceremony was the Attorney-General, Mr Eric Ogilvie and Mrs A. G. Ogilvie, wife of the Premier (Mr Albert Ogilvie).

Cotham Hall was described as “the social heartbeat of the parish for many years”. By the 1960s it was used by the local Police Boys’ Club. The hall no longer exists. The date of its demolition is not known.

Cotham Hall, Bellerive. Photo: Archdiocese of Hobart


Mercury, Saturday 9 April 1938


Sources:

Mercury, Saturday 9 April 1938, page 14
Mercury, Monday 11 April 1938, page 8
Mercury, Monday 11 April 1938, page 10

Southerwood, W. T. Planting a faith : Hobart's Catholic story in word and picture / [by] W. T. Southerwood [Hobart] 1970






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