No. 1555 - Fentonbury - Methodist Church (1897-1914)

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Fentonbury is rural settlement located about 30 kilometres north west of New Norfolk. The area was named to honour the parliamentarian Captain Michael Fenton (1789-1874).

Very little is known about the first Methodist church built at Fentonbury which was located at 264 Ellendale Road. The building was destroyed in a bushfire which swept through the district in January 1914. A new church was built on the same site and in 1920. This building was removed in 1956.

In “Tasmanian Methodism”, Reverend Max Stansall states that the first church was opened on 16 May 1897 and “was constructed on a block of land which was given to the Church for that purpose”. There is no published record of the opening of the church and I have found only a single newspaper reference to the establishment of the church in the previous year when Mercury reported:

“A new building is being erected at Fentonbury for religious purposes, under the auspices of Mr. L. M. Shoobridge, who takes a great interest in the place and people”.

Louis Manton Shoobridge (1851-1939) was a staunch supporter of the Methodist cause in the New Norfolk district. Shoobridge had developed the Fenton Forest estate which expanded into the extensive Glenora estate on the Styx and Russell Falls rivers.

A photograph of the church has yet to be found.


The Mercury, October 1896



Louis Manton Fenton, who was staunch supporter of the Methodist cause in the Upper Derwent Valley. Photograph: parliament.tas.gov.au


Sources:

The Mercury, Tuesday 27 October 1896, page 4
The Mercury, Friday 29 October 1897, page 3 


The Mercury, Monday 13 March 1939, page 11
Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 27 January 1914, page 2

Stansall, M. E. J. and Methodist Church of Australasia.  Tasmanian Methodism, 1820-1975 / [by M.E.J. Stansall ... et al]  Methodist Church of Australasia Launceston, Tas  1975

Westerway, Fentonbury, Ellendale and surrounds, [Tasmania] : Valerie and Michelle J. Browning, [2023]

https://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/resources/about-parliament/historyindex/members/shoobridgel371

 

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