Anglican Cathedral heritage walk & St. Thomas' Anniversary Cross

Inscription

Heritage Walk Loop.

The Anglican Cathedral and Area Churches.

The Church of England Cathedral

The very first church in St. John's was the Garison Church, located at Fort William in 1699. It was the oldest Church of England parish in North America. The first church to be built primarily for civilian, rather than military, use was a wooden Church of England, erected in about 1720 on the slope above the centre of the harbour. It was replaced in 1759 by a church on Duckworth Street (the construction of which necessitated moving the public gallows to Garrison Hill). A third church was built on the hillside just above it, in about 1800.

In its first years, the "Established Church" enjoyed, by law, a monopoly on the religious life of the Town and Colony. It was not until 1784 that a degree of religious toleration was proclaimed in Newfoundland.

When the Diocese of Newfoundland and Bermuda was established as a bishopric in 1839, Bishop Aubrey Spencer initiated plans for a stone Cathedral. The half-built structure was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1846, as was the old wooden church. Bishop Edward Feild opted for a new design – a Gothic church that would be comparable in grandeur to the Roman Catholic Cathedral (now the Basilica) then under construction at the top of the hill. The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist held its first service in 1850.

The Anglican Cathedral was completed in 1885, but was gutted by the Great Fire of 1892. It was reconstructed and rededicated to St. John the Baptist in 1895, with only the choir and transepts complete. The nave was rededicated five years later. The church is considered a classic example of the Victorian Gothic revival. Despite many years of construction and reconstruction, the Cathedral still reflects the overall "high church" vision of Bishop Feild and the skill of noted English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The Cathedral Churchyard

The current Cathedral is located within the original churchyard, which was for many years the only sanctioned civilian burial ground in St. John's. The first Roman Catholic cemetery, established in 1811, was also near here, at the foot of Long's Hill. Both cemeteries were in use until 1849, when the government prohibited interment within the city after an outbreak of typhus. There are few grave markers left in the Cathedral churchyard, but amongst those remaining are three commemorating individuals prominent in the cause of self-government for Newfoundland: Richard Barnes, Dr. William Carson, and Sir James Pearl.

Church Hill

For more than two centuries this hillside has been distinguished by the central churches of the various religious denominations. Just west of here is the site of the first Roman Catholic church, the Old Chapel on Henry Street, which served the largest congregation in St. John's from 1786 until the completion of the Basilica in 1855.

The first Methodist chapel was built at the foot of Long's Hill in about 1817. A larger church was built in 1857, but it was razed in the Great Fire of 1892 (as were all of the central churches except the Basilica). What is now Gower Street United Church was built after the fire, opening in 1896. The massive red brick turrets and galleries of Gower Street Church serve to emphasize its status as the "Methodist Cathedral," housing the "Mother" congregation of the United Church of Canada in Newfoundland.

The first Presbyterian church, St. Andrew's Church (The Kirk), opened in 1843 on land incorporating part of the old Catholic cemetery, on Long's Hill. After a schism in the Church of Scotland, a "Free Kirk" was built, in 1850, on Cathedral Street. The churches burnt in 1876 and 1877, and the two congregations reunited and built on the Cathedral Street site. It too was destoryed, in the 1892 fire. The St. Andrew's Church of today was opened in 1896, on its original site on Long's Hill.

The Congregational Church, established as the Dissenting Church of Canada in 1775, opened the Stone Chapel in 1853 on the site of its old cemetery, Queen's Road. The chapel, also destroyed in the 1892 fire, was replaced in 1895 with a wooden church. In 1938 the congregation joined the Presbyterian Church of Canada, and the chapel became the Queen's Road Presbyterian Church. It has since been developed as condominiums.

The first Jewish place of worship in Newfoundland was also located in this area. From 1931, they met on Henry Street, until a new synagogue was constructed on Elizabeth Avenue, in the 1960s.

This illustration of the Cathedral appeared in The Illustrated News, June 23, 1849. The accompanying text stated that Mr. Scott (the architect) adapted his church to the storms and snows of St. John's. This consideration likely refers in part to the Great Gale of 1846 that did a great deal of damage to St. John's.

Drawing by W.R. Best c. 1851 illustrating the original Church of England Cathedral (1850-1892) and the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (1843-1876).

An interior view of the Cathedral. The pillars, arches and windows are built of sandstone, imported from Glasgow Scotland, and the walls are built of Newfoundland bluestone, quarried from Southside Hill.

The Anglican Cathedral viewed from Church Hill. On June 19, 1981 the Cathedral was declared a National Historic Site.

View from Church Hill pre-1897. The monument in the corner of the Cathedral's churchyard marks the gravesite of Richard Barnes (1805-1846). Throughout the approximately two hundred and fifty years of the cemetery's use, about 5,500 graves were located in the churchyard of the Cathedral, but many of these were relocated over the years to accommodate churches, street widenings, and sanitary improvements in the City.

Church of England Cathedral Ruins after the Great Fire of 1892.

Ruins of the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 1892.

Gower Street United Church.

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, "The Kirk", on Cathedral Street, 1878-1892.

This photo, taken in 1904 from the Basilica, shows Queen's Road Presbyterian Church in the lower right hand corner.

The current St. Andrew's Church opened in 1892 on Long's Hill.

Johnson Family Foundation Research, Design and Production.

Grand Concourse Our Walker's Paradise

ST. THOMAS' 150TH ANNIVERSARY CROSS DEDICATED TO THE GLORY OF GOD ON JUNE 8, 1986

Commemorates 1699–1986