St Thomas' Anglican Church

Item details


Name of item:	St Thomas' Anglican Church
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Religion
Category:	Church
Primary address:	597 Tizzana Road, Sackville, NSW 2756
Parish:	Wilberforce
County:	Cook
Local govt. area:	Hawkesbury

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
597 Tizzana Road	Sackville	Hawkesbury	Wilberforce	Cook	Primary Address

Statement of significance:


	St Thomas' Anglican Church is a good example of a Victorian Gothic church with simple detailing in keeping with its scale and location. While it has undergone extensive repairs following a fire in 1959, it retains its gothic form with its steeply pitched roof, belfry and pointed arched openings. Apart from some short breaks in use, the site of St Thomas' Anglican Church has been the focal point for Anglican worship at Sackville since the 1860s, the present church being completed in 1871.
	Date significance updated: 14 Nov 02
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Construction years:	1871-
Physical description:	St Thomas' Anglican Church is a simple rural church in the Victorian Gothic Style set on the crest of a hill overlooking the Hawkesbury River. It has a steeply pitched gabled roof on an east-west axis with an entry porch at the west end. A belfry protrudes through the west end of the main roof. The church is three bays deep with pointed arched windows to each bay. The entry porch has a pointed arched opening and the east wall has three lancet windows. To the northeast of the church is a small obelisk recording the height of the 1867 flood which destroyed the previous church on the site.
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	Condition: good
	Date condition updated:14 Nov 02


Current use:	Church
Former use:	Church

History

Historical notes:

It is thought that the first church services at Sackville Reach were held when a school opened there in 1825.

Bishop Broughton marked the site for a church at Sackville in 1839 and quarrying began for stone but funds ran out before a building was completed. It was not until 1861 when 100 pounds were in hand that the project was resurrected. S. Tuckerman had prepared a plan to accommodate 50 people at a cost of 200 pounds. The building was probably finished soon after only to be destroyed by the disasterous floods of 1867.

On 4 January 1870 Bishop Barker laid the foundation stone of the present church, returning for the consecration on 11 September 1874, more than three years after the building opened for services. Services were conducted by the minister from Pitt Town until 1936 when the minister from Wilberforce took charge. By 1952 numbers had reduced to an exent that services were discontinued. A proposal to dismantle the building and salvage the stone led to the reopening of the church in 1958.

In 1959 a spark from a fire in a nearby paddock caused the shingled roof to ignite. The subsequent blaze left only the cedar pews and a sandstone shell. It was quickly repaired, this time with a corrugated steel roof, and a dedication service was held on 5 June 1960.

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Religion-Activities associated with particular systems of faith and worship	(none)-

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	Apart from some short breaks in use, the site of St Thomas' Anglican Church has been the focal point for Anglican worship at Sackville since the 1860s, the present church being completed in 1871.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	St Thomas' Anglican Church is a good example of a Victorian Gothic church with simple detailing in keeping with its scale and location. While it has undergone extensive repairs following a fire in 1959, it retains its gothic form with its steeply pitched roof, belfry and pointed arched openings.
SHR Criteria d) [Social significance]	The site has importance to the local Anglican community as the main centre for worship since the 1860s.
SHR Criteria g) [Representativeness]	St Thomas' Anglican Church is a representative example of a Victorian Gothic church, its simple detailing in keeping with its scale and location.
Integrity/Intactness:	Reasonable
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Local Environmental Plan	Hawkesbury Local Environmental Plan 2012	I374	21 Sep 12

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Historic Buildings of Camden	1983	374	John Wrigley	PH	Yes
Heritage Study of the Shire of Hawkesbury	1987	335	Lester Tropman & Associates, Helen Proudfoot & Meredith Walker		No
Heritage Study of the North Western Sector of Sydney	1984	H/SR-1	Howard Tanner & Associates in association with Max Kelly and Elizabeth Vines		No

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Written	Bowd, Douglas	1994	Macquarie Country

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

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Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Local Government
Database number:	1740164

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