| Historical notes: | Seven Hills:
Seven Hills was first settled when Matthew Pearce, a free settler who arrived on board the 'Surprise' in 1794, was granted 160 acres in 1795. He named it King's Langley after an English village about 30km south of London; it is believed he was born in the manor house at that village. His grant was bounded by the present Old WIndsor Road, Seven Hills Road, Chapel Lane (Baulkham Hills) and Toongabbie Creek. Because his family could see seven hills from their home, the area became known as Seven Hills, a title it has borne since 1800.
Pearce was interned in St.John's Cemetery, Parramatta but later his remains were removed. Today Pearce and his family lie peacefully in a private cemetery which his descendents set up near the corner of Seven Hills Road and the Old WIndsor Road (see Pearce Family Cemetery - separate SHR listing)(facing Bella Vista Farm which belonged for much of the 19th century to the Pearce family)(Pollen & Geary, 1988, 242, with addition by Stuart Read, 6/1/2010)..
In the early 1900s there was a small village in the area. A tile works was established about 1900 (later Norbrick) and continued to operate for about 60 years (ibid, 243).
Seven Hills Road still displays its early establishment as an important transport link by following the line of high ground between the Windsor Road (now Old Windsor Road) and Prospect).
A railway link built by 1863 from Parramatta to Penrith and including Seven Hills Station, stimulated development of the area into a prosperous orcharding district, which, during the land boom of the 1880s, soon became intensive farmlets (Godden Mackay Logan, 2008, 17).
Seven Hills had a Department of Agriculture Poultry Research Station (see Grantham Poultry Estate - separate SHR listing) established before the First World War. Nearby Grantham High School is on land that was also part of the Pearce Estate (Pollon & Geary, 1988, 242-3).
St.Andrew's Anglican Church, Hall & Rectory Group:
The land on which the church, hall and rectory is located is closely associated with early pioneer families of the area.
Mr W.Freame, noted local histoian and Lay Representative at the Anglican Synod, records 'During 1863 a brick building was erected to do duty as a chapel of ease and a school, and here services were held on sundays for many years, until 1880 when St.Andrews' Church was opened (W.Freame, 'A Delectable Parish', published in 1923). This appears to refer to the oldest of the three buildings on the site. A typescript history of Seven Hills (North) Public School (firectly adjacent to the Church's site)(copy in Blacktown Archives) mentions that services had been held in the Anglican Denominational School, corner of Abbotts' Road and Seven Hills Road, since the 1850s (Blacktown & District Historical Society, 1978).
The church was officially opened by the Archbishop of Sydney on 22/10/1879. It seems however to have been in use for most of 1878, the first baptism being recorded on 14/4/1878 (Blacktown Archives)(Blacktown & DIstrict Historical Society, 1978).
Ministers of the original parish of Prospect and Seven Hills had resided at Parramatta until 1860, and their successors until 1860 lived in rented houses within the parish. The Rev. T. Donkin (1855-76) lived in a cottage owned by Mr.J.Pye on the Old Windsor Road. Here he conducted a small private school for gentlemen's sons (Moore, 1978, 29).
Four of the six side windows were dedicated to members of the Pearce family, descendents of Matthew Pearce, pioneer free settler in the 1790s (and later of 'Bella Vista' or 'Seven Hills' farm). Other memorials to pioneer families were in the church until its closure.
Mr Freame records the memorials that were in St.Andrew's Church in 1923, these included:
- at the east end a fine three light window in memory of Eliza Pearce, died 20/2/1878; William Thomas Pearce, died 9/2/1865; and James Robert Knaggs, deid 15/1/1878.
There were also memorial windows to Amelia Neale and William Pearce. Three mural tablets were memorials to A.G.J.Neale (1825-1906), WIlliam John Pearce (1835-98); and Amelia Ann Neale (1836-65). The Neales and the Pearces were related by marriage. The brass book rest and vases on the communion table were in memory of the late Phillip Pearce, JP, Church Warden.
Mr.Freame lists the leading 'founding parishioners' of St. Andrew's as: 'The Pearces, Howards, Briens, Meurants, Davis and Horwood'. Apart from Street names and one or two homesteads (e.g.: Exeter Farm Cottage was formerly known as Meurant's Cottage, on (then) Meurant's Lane), more or less under threat from developers, St. Andrew's is the last remaining visible memorial to these noted pioneer families of the district (Blacktown & District Historical Society, 1978).
The three buildings comprise an intact precinct of early church buildings with high architectural and social value within the local area. The church building is a good example of Victorian church architecture. The hall represents significant religious development in Seven Hills and the rectory is a fine late Victorian mansion which is rare within Blacktown (LEP, 2002).
The rectory's foundation stone was laid by the Primate of Australia and Bishop of Sydney, Rt. Rev. William Saumarez Smith, on 13/6/1891, alongside St.Andrew's church, which by that time had been in service for a decade or more. A large crowd was present for the ceremony, which was reported in the local press, and all the old families were well represented. The Cumberland Argus gave a full description of the building. It was being built by Mr.G.H.Stoker, who was both architect and contractor. In 1860 a parsonage was built between Seven Hills and Prospect, and paid for by public subscription. There were a couple of Catholic names among the subscribers. This parsonage was still standing in the 1920s. By 1890 however, St.Andrew's parishioners were determined to have a new parsonage of their own. Hence the visit of the Primate. The two storey building would have nine rooms, bathroom, lavatory, study, kitchen etc. The front was to be of attractive design, with cast iron columns to the full elevation. The bay window also was carried through to the roof and the balcony was to be 90' long. After laying the foundation stone there was a laying of donations on the stone. The trowel used was at least until recent years (1978) preserved in a glass case in the church (Moore, 1978, 29).
The term 'villa' was first used in England in the 17th century, partly from the Latin and Italian 'country house, farm', perhaps derived from the stem of vicus (village). The villa was a country mansion or residence, together with a farm, farm-buildings, or other house attached, built or occupied by a person of some position and wealth. It was taken to include a country seat or estate and later a residence in the country or in the neighbourhood of a town, usually standing in its own grounds. From this is was appropriated by the middleof the 18th century to mean a residence of a superior type, in the suburbs of a town or in a residential district, such as that occupied by a person of the middle class, and also a small, better-class dwelling house, usually detached or semi-detached. The term 'villa garden' was used in the context of Hobart and Sydney residences in the 1830s, and if near the coast or harbour, the appellation 'marine villa' was often applied. Australian origins probably date from the grant conditions applied to Sydney's Woolloomooloo Hill (1827, under Governor Darling), which obligated the construction of villas fulfilling certain conditions... 'with garden like domain, and external offices for stables and domestic economy' (John Buonarotti Papworth, 1825, quoted in James Broadbent's 1997 book, 'The Australian Colonial House'). Many gardens of 19th century villas followed Gardenesque conventions, with garden ornaments often complementing the architecture of the house. The term had acquired such widespread usage by the 1850s that when Jane Loudon issued a new editiion of her husband (John Claudius Loudon)'s 'Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion' (1838) she merely entitled the revised work 'The Villa Gardener' (1850). This coincided with a growing period of suburbanisation in Australia with consequent fostering of the nursery trade... By the 1880s, descriptions of Australian villas implied sufficient room for a lawn on two or three fronts of the residence...(Aitken, 2002, 619-20).
Circa 1955 the rectory behind the church was restored, after having been vacant for many years. About 1963 the original Victorian Gothic prayer desk and gilded communion rails, pulpit, lectern and pews were removed from the church. Photographs of the church before this time would allow their reinstatement. The church's stained glass windows are notable, the three eastern windows being exceptionally fine (costing 100 pounds each in 1880. An almost complete set of church financial statements covering the period from 1880s-1930s is retained by the author and forms a useful reference (Letter on file from Barry Slack, 16/5/1978).
In 1978 the Anglican Church proposed retention of the manse but demolition of the church and hall, subdivision and disposal of the site for eight house lots, claiming the area was no longer desirable, that church activities had ceased in 1977, that it had no further use for the site and citing high maintenance costs. The National Trust of Australia (NSW) had recorded the church and hall. Heritage Council advice was sought by Blacktown City Council (Heritage Branch, file note, 6/3/1978).
The Heritage Council negotiated retention of the church and hall until the subdivision application was finalised. The church removed the stained glass windows from the church for safe-keeping, made it vandal-proof (Heritage Branch file note, 6/4/1978). |