No. 1616 - Lymington - All Saints' Anglican Church (1924 - 1967)

Lymington is a coastal settlement south of Cygnet in the Huon Valley region. Lymington was the site of a convict probation station established in the 1840s when the area was known as Copper Alley Bay. By the late 19th century Lymington had developed as an orchard-growing district.

In 1912 a correspondent for the Hobart Mercury wrote an article describing this picturesque area:

“One of the prettiest settlements in the Huon district is Lymington, … it is getting its share of attention in the wave of progress and prosperity so noticeable throughout the Huon is easily discerned by the number of new houses, and the ever increasing area of land being cleared and planted. The sweep of the well-sheltered bay, with its fringe of native bush, the well kept houses, with their neat gardens and orchards, sloping from the hills at the back to the very water's edge, form a picture that never fails to attract the eye of the visitor; but which we, alas, as residents, have hardly time to pause at in our workaday life…”.

Three churches were built at Lymington, a Methodist church (1901); a Catholic church and convent school (1931) and an Anglican church which opened in 1924.

The first Anglican services at Lymington were held at ‘Radford’, the home of Charles and Kate Atkins. The foundation stone for Lymington’s Anglican church was laid on 17 March 1923 by Bishop Robert Snowden Hay. By August significant progress with the building had been made. The Huon Times reported:

“The Anglican community will shortly be opening a new church at Lymington. Charmingly situated, overlooking the beautiful bay, the church is built on a site donated by Mrs E. B. Pixley, who also is bearing the greater part of the cost of the building, as a memorial to her mother, the late Mrs C. J. Atkins. Mr and Mrs. Pixley have also provided a handsome organ and many other furnishings have been contributed as memorials of fallen soldiers by their surviving relatives. The design of the church is most pleasing and the workmanship reflects credit upon the contractor Mr. P. Williams. It is anticipated that the building will be completed and dedicated by the Bishop in about a months time”.

By December the church was virtually complete and a fundraising “American tea” for “necessary furniture for All Saints Church” was held at “Radford”, the residence of Mr and Mrs Pixley.

Accompanied by Reverend J. A. Cloudsdale, All Saints’was dedicated by Bishop Hay on Sunday 1 June 1924. The church was a weatherboard building located on the no longer existent James Street.

All Saints’ was one of more than twenty churches that were destroyed by the 1967 bushfires that swept across the south of Tasmania. No photograph of the church is known to exist. After the fire the church’s foundation stone was removed to St Mark’s Anglican church at Cygnet.

The foundation stone of All Saints' at Lymington is all that remains of the church. It is set into the outside wall of St Mark's Anglican church at Cygnet. 

Sources:

Mercury, Tuesday 13 August 1912, page 6
Mercury, Wednesday 18 April 1923, page 9
Huon Times, Friday 17 August 1923, page 5
Huon Times, Tuesday 18 December 1923, page 2
Mercury, Monday 2 June 1924, page 3
Huon Times, Wednesday 4 June 1924, page 3
Huon Times, Tuesday 10 June 1924, page 2

Henslowe, Dorothea I and Hurburgh, Isa Our heritage of Anglican churches in Tasmania. Mercury-Walch, Moonah, Tas, 1978.

Coad, David, Lymington, Battery Point, Tasmania, 2022