No. 1569 - Hampshire - Anglican and Methodist Churches (1922)
This article is one in a series about public buildings in country areas that were used as places of worship. In these communities churches may have been planned but were never built due to lack of finance or changing circumstances. In many settlements, before a church was built, worship was typically held in homes, schoolrooms, barns, halls and other buildings. Conversely, in some communities, churches were sometimes the first public building erected and were used as schools and community halls. The focus of this series will primarily be on the public halls and schools that were used as churches. These buildings, and the religious communities which used them, are often overlooked in published histories of churches.
Hampshire is a small rural settlement approximately 30 kilometres south of Burnie. It was the site of a sawmill established for building a railway before it was taken over by the Van Diemen's Land Company. In recent years plantations for the wood chip industry have come to dominate the area.
In the book ‘Our Heritage of Anglican Churches in Tasmania’ Dorothea Henslowe notes that the Anglican church at Hampshire “was closed and removed sometime before 1972”. As a result of my research I have reached the conclusion that a church was never built at Hampshire and that the Anglican and Methodist communities used the Hampshire Public Hall as a place of worship for many years. It is possible that the Anglicans may have acquired the Hall or perhaps another place of worship in the 1950s but further research is needed.
Religious services at Hampshire commenced around the time of the public hall’s construction in 1922. In February 1922 the Advocate reported:
“For some time past the residents of Hampshire have been handicapped by lack of school facilities. With commendable enterprise the local people have put their hands in their pockets and have erected a substantial hall, which will fill a long-felt want in this growing district. The building will be used as a school, and for other public functions….next Sunday morning Mr. W. Crocker (home missionary, of Ridgley) will conduct Divine service on behalf of the Methodist Church”.
The first Anglican service in the Hall took place in August 1922. The Advocate reported:
“An interesting service took place at the Hampshire Hall on Sunday morning last, when the Rev. W. G. Thomas administered the sacrament of Holy Baptism, this being the first occasion, so far as is known, that this service has been held in the district. The recipients of the sacrament were the children of Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Ballantyne and Mr. and Mrs. G. A. E. Sice. In spite of the bad state of the roads, which necessitated the officiating clergyman leaving his car on the roadside a few miles from his destination and completing his journey on horse back, an excellent congregation assembled from various parts of the district, and the gathering was not without its social side, as at the close of the service the whole congregation sat down to a bountiful dinner in the hall, which well maintained the reputation of the Hampshire ladies for generous hospitality. The hall has recently been improved by the addition of a large room, with fireplace, and is filling a very useful place as a community centre for these pioneers of civilisation in this promising district”.
In 1927 fundraising was begun to purchase an organ which would be used by both congregations. Cooperation between the Anglicans and Methodists was a feature of religious life at Hampshire. In 1933 an report in the Advocate noted:
Church people at Hampshire provide an example of unity without organic church union, for they attend the services conducted by the various denominations. The annual harvest thanks-giving services are conducted alternatively by the Anglican and Methodist ministers, and the proceeds are equally divided. The services are also conducted alternately….”
In 1934 the hall came close to being lost in bushfires with the building being “seriously threatened” but escaped any damage.
Methodist services at Hampshire ceased in the late 1930s while the Anglicans continued to worship at the hall until 1948. The Anglicans departed about the time of an incident which where portions of the building were carted off by thieves in the dead of the night. In September 1948 the Advocate reported:
“A corrugated iron chimney, the roofs of two rear rooms, and several complete windows of the Hampshire public hall - a total of £50 worth - were removed by thieves early on Saturday and carried away in a motor lorry. Det-Sgt H. T. Reid, of Burnie, said yesterday that the theft was worrying trustees of the hall, as they had intended moving it to a more central site. It was not a case of vandalism”.
I have not come across any reports of Anglican activity at Hampshire from the 1950s. The hall was ‘deregistered’ in 1952 and it is not known how long the building remained at Hampshire or when it was removed. As the roads had improved considerably by the 1940s it is likely that Anglicans and Methodists were able to travel to worship at churches at nearby Highclere or Ridgley.
I have yet to find a photograph of the Hampshire Hall.
Sources:
Hampshire is a small rural settlement approximately 30 kilometres south of Burnie. It was the site of a sawmill established for building a railway before it was taken over by the Van Diemen's Land Company. In recent years plantations for the wood chip industry have come to dominate the area.
In the book ‘Our Heritage of Anglican Churches in Tasmania’ Dorothea Henslowe notes that the Anglican church at Hampshire “was closed and removed sometime before 1972”. As a result of my research I have reached the conclusion that a church was never built at Hampshire and that the Anglican and Methodist communities used the Hampshire Public Hall as a place of worship for many years. It is possible that the Anglicans may have acquired the Hall or perhaps another place of worship in the 1950s but further research is needed.
Religious services at Hampshire commenced around the time of the public hall’s construction in 1922. In February 1922 the Advocate reported:
“For some time past the residents of Hampshire have been handicapped by lack of school facilities. With commendable enterprise the local people have put their hands in their pockets and have erected a substantial hall, which will fill a long-felt want in this growing district. The building will be used as a school, and for other public functions….next Sunday morning Mr. W. Crocker (home missionary, of Ridgley) will conduct Divine service on behalf of the Methodist Church”.
The first Anglican service in the Hall took place in August 1922. The Advocate reported:
“An interesting service took place at the Hampshire Hall on Sunday morning last, when the Rev. W. G. Thomas administered the sacrament of Holy Baptism, this being the first occasion, so far as is known, that this service has been held in the district. The recipients of the sacrament were the children of Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Ballantyne and Mr. and Mrs. G. A. E. Sice. In spite of the bad state of the roads, which necessitated the officiating clergyman leaving his car on the roadside a few miles from his destination and completing his journey on horse back, an excellent congregation assembled from various parts of the district, and the gathering was not without its social side, as at the close of the service the whole congregation sat down to a bountiful dinner in the hall, which well maintained the reputation of the Hampshire ladies for generous hospitality. The hall has recently been improved by the addition of a large room, with fireplace, and is filling a very useful place as a community centre for these pioneers of civilisation in this promising district”.
In 1927 fundraising was begun to purchase an organ which would be used by both congregations. Cooperation between the Anglicans and Methodists was a feature of religious life at Hampshire. In 1933 an report in the Advocate noted:
Church people at Hampshire provide an example of unity without organic church union, for they attend the services conducted by the various denominations. The annual harvest thanks-giving services are conducted alternatively by the Anglican and Methodist ministers, and the proceeds are equally divided. The services are also conducted alternately….”
In 1934 the hall came close to being lost in bushfires with the building being “seriously threatened” but escaped any damage.
Methodist services at Hampshire ceased in the late 1930s while the Anglicans continued to worship at the hall until 1948. The Anglicans departed about the time of an incident which where portions of the building were carted off by thieves in the dead of the night. In September 1948 the Advocate reported:
“A corrugated iron chimney, the roofs of two rear rooms, and several complete windows of the Hampshire public hall - a total of £50 worth - were removed by thieves early on Saturday and carried away in a motor lorry. Det-Sgt H. T. Reid, of Burnie, said yesterday that the theft was worrying trustees of the hall, as they had intended moving it to a more central site. It was not a case of vandalism”.
I have not come across any reports of Anglican activity at Hampshire from the 1950s. The hall was ‘deregistered’ in 1952 and it is not known how long the building remained at Hampshire or when it was removed. As the roads had improved considerably by the 1940s it is likely that Anglicans and Methodists were able to travel to worship at churches at nearby Highclere or Ridgley.
I have yet to find a photograph of the Hampshire Hall.
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| The Advocate 1922 |
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| The State school at Hampshire. After the school was built in the late 1920s, the hall ceased being used as a schoolroom. Photograph: Libraries Tasmania |
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| The Hampshire district in North West Tasmania - https://www.placenames.tas.gov.au/ |
Sources:
Advocate, Monday 6 December 1920, page 4
Advocate, Wednesday 15 February 1922, page 4
Advocate, Saturday 18 February 1922, page 6
Advocate, Wednesday 16 August 1922, page 4
Advocate, Thursday 23 December 1926, page 4
Advocate, Saturday 15 January 1927, page 4
Advocate, Thursday 20 January 1927, page 4
Advocate, Saturday 6 May 1933, page 6
Examiner, Friday 19 January 1934, page 12
Advocate, Monday 16 April 1936, page 6
Advocate, Thursday 7 April 1938, page 6
Advocate, Saturday 27 June 1942, page 4
Mercury, Tuesday 14 September 1948, page 2
Henslowe, Dorothea I and Hurburgh, Isa. Our heritage of Anglican churches in Tasmania / by Dorothea I. Henslowe ; sketches by Isa Hurburgh s.n, 1978
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