Category:Rossmore Anglican Church

English: Rossmore Anglican Church, also known as the Church of the Holy Innocents is an Anglican church in Rossmore, New South Wales. This site consists of a fine Gothic Revival parish church (1 storey, orientated east-west) surrounded by its churchyard and set in an attractive rural setting. The building is constructed of English bonded face brick with sandstone facings to doors, windows, string mouldings and buttress caps. The floors to the nave and porch are also stone flagged. The layout of the building comprises of a short 2-bayed nave, a chancel at the east and, vestry to the north side and finely detailed open timber-framed porch to the south. All components have steeply pitched, gabled roofs, the nave being clad with slates, the other roofs with timber shingles. A small brickwork belfry is located at the west end of the nave roof. The lancet headed windows feature fine sandstone tracery and lead-light glazing, the main chancel window being a particular beautiful example of a geometrically designed stained glass window. The interior of the church is restained in detail with painted plaster and brick walls and exposed, stained, hammer beam truss roof, cedar pews and pulpit.

The Church of the Holy Innocents retains most of its original fabric and has not been modified in an extensive manner. However, poor maintenance during the recent past has resulted in the deterioration of some of the wooden elements of the structure, such as the porch, chapel, and vestry roofs, and external vestry door. This has in turn resulted in some water and pest damage to the church interior, particularly along the south wall of the chancel and the southwest corner of the vestry. However, recent efforts by the Diocese of Sydney at improving maintenance of the church has enhanced its condition.

The Church of the Holy Innocents features no major modifications - it is still largely original in form - although there has been some small alterations to different aspects of the building (i.e. removal of stone cross on nave roof, lowering of the pulpit, replacement of the original cedar shingles on the nave roof with abestos shingles, etc.).

Previously, there have been three renovation projects undertaken to restore the church: one in the late 1940s, one in the 1960s, and the other in the early 1990s.

Significance

The Church of the Holy Innocents, churchyard, and cemetery is of state heritage significance because of its historical, associative, technical, aesthetic, research, rarity, and representative values. The church is the result of an unusual partnership of two prominent ecclesiastical architects: Richard Cromwell Carpenter, one of the leading English architects of the Cambridge Camden Society, and Edmund Blacket, the most prominent Australian ecclesiastical architect of the nineteenth century. It is the only church in NSW based on a design by Richard Cromwell Carpenter and only one of three in Australia. This church is one of the earliest Gothic Revival churches in NSW recognised as being correct in its medieval detail and thus, an important, rare and representative example of this new wave of church architecture. Its highly detailed, Gothic Revival design renders it remarkable in a state context as a small rural church. The church is also designed according to the principles of the Tractarian Movement, facilitating a change in liturgical emphasis from the pulpit and the spoken word, to the altar and the sacraments associated with a separate choir. The application of a Tractarian design in this small rural church embodies wider debates within the Church of England under Bishop Broughton. The church is also strongly associated with the main group of proponents of the Gothic Revival and Tractarian Movements operating in, or in association with, the Church of England during the 1840s in NSW: Bishop Broughton, Edmund Blacket, Reverend Horatio Walsh, and Reverend George Vidal.

The church, churchyard, cemetery, and archaeological site are associated with several important pieces of legislation relating to the governance and position of religion, and specifically the Church of England, in colonial society during the early nineteenth century. As such, these original features and the church land is able to tell a story about the changing nature of religion and the position of the Church of England in the early colony. The retention of the semi-rural nature of the church, churchyard, and cemetery into the twenty-first century also demonstrates the historic rural landscape and isolation that made the finely designed Gothic Revival Church of the Holy Innocents a remarkable and rare place of worship.

Aesthetically the site is of state significance as a particularly fine example of early Victorian "Picturesque Gothic" parish church enhanced by its attractive rural setting and well preserved churchyard with its many early monuments and mature tree planting.

The Church of the Holy Innocents is of State historical significance due to its Tractarian design that forms an important early example of this type of architecture in NSW. Bishop Broughton's decision to use the English Tractarian design of Richard Cromwell Carpenter illustrates the progressive changes in the Church of England during this period associated with the Tractarian Movement and Cambridge Camden Society, which controversially promoted a change in liturgical emphasis from the pulpit and the spoken word to the altar and the sacraments associated with a separate choir. Through its design, this church reflects contemporary debates within the Church of England under Bishop Broughton.

The Church of the Holy Innocents is an important early example of the Colonial Church's participation in the Gothic Revival movement, which was Empire wide in scope. The Gothic Revival movement, under the influence of Edmund Blacket, was to dominate ecclesiastical architecture in the colony for the majority of the nineteenth century.

This item is of State historical significance as the site and its development materially demonstrate a range of early nineteenth century legislation related to church building, religious development, and the provision of education within the colony of NSW. The original small reserve for the church, cemetery, and school within the Cabramatta village reserve from 1825 is linked to the restructuring of the colonial surveying system carried out by Governor Brisbane. The archaeological remains of the slab timber church/school hall and the early portion of the cemetery are linked to the Clergy and School Lands Corporation (1826-1833), and the Church of the Holy Innocents and the land from the second land grant are linked to the 1836 Church Act.

In this manner, the item illustrates the attempts by Colonial authorities during this period to develop and improve the colony's moral condition through the establishment of strong religious institutions that had a widespread presence throughout society. It also demonstrates the slow loss of pre-eminence of the Church of England in the colony during this period.

The Church of the Holy Innocents and its stone font potentially have a strong historical association of State significance with Edmund Thomas Blacket (1817-1883), a prominent ecclesiastical architect renowned for his contributions to the Gothic Revival movement. As Diocesan Architect, Blacket adapted and executed Richard Cromwell Carpenter's design for the Church of the Holy Innocents, and he oversaw its construction as Diocese and then Colonial Architect. While it is still recognisably a rural 'Carpenter' church, Blacket's elaboration of Carpenter's design is clearly apparent. This church belongs to the experimental period of Blacket's career when he was still developing his design repertoire and confidence in Gothic Revival architecture. It could be considered to be one of his early successes in Gothic Revival architecture as it has been described as 'perfect a mediaeval replica as was ever realised in the colony' (Kerr, 1977). Blacket also designed the church's stone font, as well as potentially all the internal fittings and furniture. This item is one of the finest small rural churches Blacket built over his long career.

The church is also strongly associated with the main group of proponents of the Gothic Revival and Tractarian Movements operating in, or in association with, the Church of England during the 1840s in NSW. This group included Bishop Broughton, the main promoter of the Gothic Revival; the Reverend Horatio Walsh a leading Tractarian in the Colonial church; Edmund Blacket, the leading architect of the Gothic Revival; and the Reverend George Vidal, the first minister of the church and a well-known Tractarian and promoter of the Gothic Revival. These clergy and architects encouraged the use of Carpenter's design for this church and oversaw its successful completion as part of a wider effort of promoting these two movements within the Church of England.

The Church of the Holy Innocents is of technical significance at a state level due to its Tractarian design which was cutting edge at the time. This design was approved by the Cambridge Camden Society, and prepared by one of their favoured architects, Richard Cromwell Carpenter. While many of the other churches Blacket designed early in his career were based on English designs in the same manner, they do not have the architectural precedents of the Church of the Holy Innocents, which is recognisably a 'Carpenter' church embodying the principles of the Tractarian Movement. Thus, it is archetypal of the early stages in NSW of the Empire-wide Gothic Revival movement that was to dominate ecclesiastical architecture in the colony for the next several decades. Its architecture and its high level of detailing for a small rural church renders it exceptional within the state context - the vast majority of small churches were built to vernacular designs with much less exacting attention to construction.

Historically the Church of the Holy Innocents was also exceptional aesthetically for its rural location and picturesque backdrop that finely expressed its isolation, and made this a remarkable and rare place of worship. Over recent decades this rural landscape has been gradually developed to the stage that it is now semi-rural in nature, but the historic rural and isolated nature of this place is still appreciable at the site through the undeveloped lot to the north.

As the only church associated with Richard Cromwell Carpenter within NSW, and only one of three in Australia, the Church of the Holy Innocents has great research potential within the context of Gothic Revival architecture, and the state's ecclesiastical architecture in general. It can also contribute positively to the study of the Tractarian Movement and High Church within the Church of England in the colony during the early nineteenth century.

The archaeological site of the slab timber school/church hall potentially has good research potential due to its connection with the Clergy and School Lands Corporation. The corporation primarily built plain, cheap, and multi-purpose school/church buildings during its existence between 1826 and 1833 and reportedly only one of these is extant. This archaeological site potentially provides an important resource to investigate the simple wooden buildings erected during this program through any foundation remains or construction materials preserved at the site (post-holes, hearths, wall base slots, etc.). Through other occupational deposits (underfloor layers or rubbish pits) it also has the potential to provide information on activities undertaken within the structure throughout its lifetime.

The Church of the Holy Innocents is rare in NSW as an early small scale rural Gothic Revival church and a small rural church of a Tractarian design. It is also rare in the context of NSW ecclesiastical architecture as being the only church in NSW, and one of three in Australia, based on a design by Richard Cromwell Carpenter. This design had been purposefully imported to the Colony by the adherents of the Tractarian movement to stimulate the construction of ecclesiastically correct churches in the Australian context.

Sources

• This description incorporates descriptions from the NSW Heritage Listings 5052754, 1970069 and 1970110, which are licensed under CC-BY-SA.