St Peter's Anglican Church

About

St Peter's Anglican Church and Glebe Cemetery are a heritage-listed Anglican church and closed cemetery in East Maitland, New South Wales, Australia. The church is at 49 William Street while the cemetery is approximately 1.2 km (0.7 mi) away, approximately 400 m (1,312 ft) beyond the end of George St, also in East Maitland. The church was designed by Cyril and Arthur Blacket (Blacket Brothers) and built from 1884 to 1886. The cemetery is also known as Glebe Gully Burial Ground and East Maitland Anglican Cemetery. The cemetery and adjoining quarry (the quarry containing early known and unknown graves) were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 31 August 2012.

The land on which the St. Peter's Church group stands was selected by Archdeacon William Broughton in 1829. A further lot to the south-west was gifted to the parish in 1867, two intermediate lots being purchased in 1881. These now compose the churchyard itself, while the denominational school, parsonage, curate's cottage, columbarium and Youth Centre are located on the original grant.

St. Peter's, East Maitland, is one of the oldest Anglican parishes in Australia, having been established in 1834. From 1829, Church of England services were held inside the school house on Stockade Hill, very close to the later site of the first dedicated church.

The present church was built further up the hill, on land underlaid by stone rather than by clay. Edmund Blacket 's sons Cyril and Arthur, practising under the name of Blacket Brothers but with Cyril pre-eminent, designed the new church. The builder, Oliver Saunders, had laid the foundations before financial difficulties forced him into a breach of contract. The work was then supervised by Alexander Sellar, who did not recommission a builder. For aesthetic and practical reasons, local stone, rather than brick, was chosen for above-ground works.

The design called for a tower and spire of great height. As these were to be built at a future time, finance permitting, detailed designs were not produced. Massive foundations for the tower were, however, laid in 1885.

The church was dedicated by Bishop J. B. Pearson, on 29 September 1886. The fabric of the church has since remained substantially unchanged. Stained glass windows and furniture have been progressively added, in most cases not long after the church was built.

St. Peter's Church Hall was once the East Maitland Denominational School. It is likely that the building was erected between 1842 and 1847. The school bell appears to have been transferred from an older school house after its closure. After 1867, the building was rented out; from 1885 until 1897 it was occupied by the Department of Lands. The old school then became the parish hall. It was then leased by Miss Barker, the principal of "Rydal", a private boarding school for girls and preparatory school for boys. During the Second World War the building was used by the National Emergency Service as a first aid post. It then reverted to use as a parish hall and office.

The Rectory was built in 1860, to the south of the original church. Originally a four-roomed Victorian Georgian style brick cottage with a separate kitchen and shingled roof, alterations and additions have been made over a long period. Two extra rooms were added in 1873, and another in 1893. The roof shingles were replaced in slate at some stage between these two dates. In 1920, the rectory was substantially renovated and modified in a predominantly Arts and Crafts style, executed to a design by local architect Robert Scobie, although much of the 1860 fabric of the building remained substantially intact. Many of the original features remain internally and externally legible. The eastern portion of the slate roof appears to follow the ridge and roof lines of the 1860 parsonage.

The Youth Centre building originated during the Second World War, when an important military camp (the Greta Army Camp ) was established in the lower Hunter district near the township of Greta, some 42 km to the north-west.

After the war, its more than two hundred timber-framed huts were used as a reception camp for migrants. One of these was purchased by the parish in 1960 and moved to Eastville, a newly developed, chiefly Housing Commission suburb at the eastern boundary of East Maitland. In 1961 the building was dedicated as the Church of St. Mark. It ceased to be used as such in 1976, although for a time the Sunday School continued to use it. The building, by then called St Mark's Hall, was used by the 3rd East Maitland Scouts until 1982, when it was relocated to the approximate site of the original church. Although the Scout group relocated in 1989, the Youth Centre, as it is now known, continues to serve the needs of young people of the parish and of the wider community. It is being used by the Samaritans, the Anglican charitable organisation, as a drop-in centre for those in physical need or seeking spiritual counsel.

A glebe of 7 hectares (18 acres) was included in Major Thomas Mitchell 's plan for the Township of Maitland and was marked out by Assistant Surveyor G. B. White in 1829. In 1830, however, Governor Darling received an instruction from the Secretary of State for Colonies that "the glebe allotted to each chaplain shall be to the extent of 16 hectares (40 acres)". In addition, each chaplain was to be allowed one or two convict labourers to keep his glebe in order, who would be fed and clothed at public expense.

Accordingly, Major Mitchell instructed Assistant Surveyor White, on 5 September 1834, to add 9 hectares (22 acres) to the 7 hectares (18 acres) already marked out as the glebe at Maitland. White reported on 15 November 1834 that he had measured the glebe but had excluded 0 hectares (1 acre) from it containing a stone quarry and had made up the difference by including a part of the garden attached to the Government Cottage. Mitchell disapproved of those alterations and told White to reverse them, but shortly thereafter was over-ruled by Governor Bourke who ordered the quarry to be excluded from the glebe. As the glebe had to be 7 hectares (18 acres), a deficiency therefore existed of 0 hectares (1 acre), 2 roods and 6 perches. A small parcel of this extent was marked on the opposite side of the burial ground from the glebe. The 16-hectare (40-acre) glebe thus extended further up the hills than did the earlier 7-hectare (18-acre) glebe. It now included a large portion of the Mounted Police paddock and also a spur of the old line of road to Wisemans Ferry that served the stone quarry. Evidence of this road, which is marked on early plans, is still distinguishable in the form of a shallow cutting in the glebe gully.

The stone quarry adjacent to the cemetery was already established by 1835 and being worked by various individuals, when Rev. G. K. Rusden expressed concern that it was being plundered to construct private dwellings and (even) a Catholic Chapel. Despite Rusden's attempt to require his written permission to work the quarry, it remained excluded from the glebe and has been Crown Land, ever since. The overgrown remains of the quarry are clearly evident.

The burial ground itself was marked out, cleared and fenced in 1829, although earlier unmarked graves and unrecorded burials are probable in the south-western corner extending into the upper portion of the quarry. By 1832, however, it had fallen into an overgrown state of neglect and the catechist, Lieut. Wood, complained to the Archdeacon that, "there being no sexton, any persons having a corpse to inter placed it where and in any direction they pleased". Even deceased Roman Catholics made their way, informally, into the burial ground. The subsoil was so hard that the graves were scarcely more than two feet deep, "attracting native dogs to the spot & causing a noxious effluvia (sic) to passengers on the road". A sexton was appointed in May, 1832.

The burial ground was extended in 1835, consecrated in 1843 (on the same day as St Peter's Church) and extended, again, in 1850, by fencing the former access road to the quarry. The earliest gravestone in the cemetery dates from 1828, the burial having been moved there from elsewhere in 1835. The headstone of Andrew Sparke marks the first identified original burial in November, 1830. Subsequent monuments are notable for their quaint spelling, lurid descriptions and other idiosyncrasies. They provide a valuable insight into life – and death – in colonial NSW. The Glebe Cemetery is the resting place of several notable pioneers of the district including, reputedly but unmarked, Colonial Architect Francis Greenway. The cemetery remained in regular use until 1892. Title to was transferred to Maitland City Council in 1994.

The land on which the St. Peter's Church group stands was selected by Archdeacon William Broughton in 1829. A further lot to the south-west was gifted to the parish in 1867, two intermediate lots being purchased in 1881. These now compose the churchyard itself, while the denominational school, parsonage, curate's cottage, columbarium and Youth Centre are located on the original grant.

St. Peter's, East Maitland, is one of the oldest Anglican parishes in Australia, having been established in 1834. From 1829, Church of England services were held inside the school house on Stockade Hill, very close to the later site of the first dedicated church.

The present church was built further up the hill, on land underlaid by stone rather than by clay. Edmund Blacket 's sons Cyril and Arthur, practising under the name of Blacket Brothers but with Cyril pre-eminent, designed the new church. The builder, Oliver Saunders, had laid the foundations before financial difficulties forced him into a breach of contract. The work was then supervised by Alexander Sellar, who did not recommission a builder. For aesthetic and practical reasons, local stone, rather than brick, was chosen for above-ground works.

The design called for a tower and spire of great height. As these were to be built at a future time, finance permitting, detailed designs were not produced. Massive foundations for the tower were, however, laid in 1885.

The church was dedicated by Bishop J. B. Pearson, on 29 September 1886. The fabric of the church has since remained substantially unchanged. Stained glass windows and furniture have been progressively added, in most cases not long after the church was built.