St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia
Notes:
Source: Australian Heritage Database
History:
On 11 March 1839 a request was made to the Governor to set aside St John's Square, then King's Square, as the site for an Anglican Church. This was granted to the Church authorities in 1840. The following year the first Rector, the Reverend George King, took up duties. His parish covered some 2,300sqkm and included the locations of Canning and Murray which he serviced on horseback. The first Church of St John's on the site was opened on 11 August 1843. The title to St John's Square [King's Square] was granted by Governor Hutt in December 1845 and, in 1848, the Church was consecrated by Bishop Short of Adelaide, under which Diocese the parish fell at the time. In 1875 the Reverend D G Watkins became Rector. Planning of the new Church commenced in 1875 and in the following year architect W Smith of Adelphi, London was commissioned to design the new Church which was built by J J Harwood and Son. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Hale of Perth on 28 January 1878. The building was consecrated on 4 July 1882. The old St John's Church was then demolished to make way for the extension of High Street. The stone used in the Church was obtained from the government quarries in Cantonment Street, Fremantle. The roof was originally timber shingles, later replaced with Welsh slate and now clad with asbestos reinforced sheet shingles. In 1884, a new organ was installed to replace the organ which had been transferred from the old Church. Between 1887 and 1904 separate parishes in Beaconsfield, North Fremantle and East Fremantle were split from the parish of St John's. The Bell Turret was added in 1906 or early 1907 and the high altar reredos was erected in 1908. The organ was overhauled and rebuilt in 1913. The original timber shingles were replaced with Welsh slate in 1914. The choir vestry was added in 1922. In 1923, an arrangement was made with the Fremantle Municipal Council to maintain the grounds of St John's, allowing, in exchange, for their use by the public. In 1925, the carved jarrah high altar was installed. In 1946 the Baptistery was erected as a World War Two memorial. In 1962 the organ was again rebuilt. In 1974, St Paul's, Beaconsfield was reincorporated into the parish of St John's. In 1975 the roof cladding was replaced with asbestos reinforced sheet shingles and in 1979, with the centenary of the laying of the foundation stone, the restoration of the Church fabric was commenced. In 1985, King's Square was renamed St John's Square.
Description:
St John's Anglican Church stands in the spacious, paved and treed surrounds of St John's Square in the centre of Fremantle. The Church is built of limestone walls, generally of random rubble with raised cement pointing but with square cut stonework at the buttresses. The roof is clad with asbestos reinforced sheet shingles. The Church is cruciform in shape and consists of a nave, chancel and sanctuary aligned on an west to east axis some 40m long with transepts crossing between the chancel and nave some 25m in width. To the north of the chancel is an aisle containing the organ with a clergy vestry further to the north. To the north of the sanctuary is the vestry. To the south of the chancel is a chapel dedicated to St Michael. The main gable over the nave reduces in height over the chancel and sanctuary and the gables over the transepts are lower still. The aisle, vestries and chapel are under separate gable roofs either running on a north-south or an east-west axis. These roofs combine to create a varied composition. The western facade presents a high gable surmounted by a cross with three small lancets near the apex and a rose window in the centre of the triangle with a series of blind lancet openings stretching across the full width of the facade between the top portions of the corner buttresses. Centrally placed at ground level is a shallow entry porch with a gabled roof and a large lancet arched door. The side windows to the nave have lancet arches and geometric stone tracery. Over the St Michael Chapel is a hexagonal bell tower with a tall conical stone spire. The ceiling is a Gothic vault of jarrah V-jointed match boarding supported on jarrah rib beams shaped to the vault profile and supported on stone arches at the crossing. The flooring is of jarrah boards, excepting the centre aisle of the nave and the entrance porch, where ceramic tiles have been laid. Many of the windows contain coloured glass supplied from an earlier Church on the site.
Latitude: -32.053569420129904, Longitude: 115.74791237711906
