Old sandstone church

(Every street walkies, Gosford #4, read #3)

Mann Street is the main street of Gosford. At the water end of Mann Street there's a block of sixties or seventies flats in beige brick and beside them the two churches of Christ Church, one an unattractive round 1960s job with a spire sticking up from the middle of it, the other a wee old sandstone church known as the Blacket.


(Big version)

The style is Victorian Free Gothic (c. 1840-c. 1890). According to the library, the Blacket was built in 1858 in East Gosford and moved to Mann Street in 1905. This photo is taken from the veranda of the round sixties church.


(Big version)

When the Blacket was moved its sandstone blocks were numbered so they could put it back together at the other end. On the big version you can still see the numbers 57, 59 and 6? on the blocks on the north side.


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(Big version)

The older churches round Brisbane Water are small and generally simple. I like a bit of Perp Dec but I also like these nice simple little churches with their simple little doors and windows.


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Lovely interior. Used mostly for weddings and christenings I gather from their website.

There's stained glass window (not showing here) with a bloke and another bloke in memory of Sidney Fielder who died in 1925.


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This is an interesting old structure. It's to the back of the Blacket and close enough to be used for the minister's changing room. The size of it indicates it also was used for whatever other churchy things ministers regularly do. It seems to be still in use.

It's bloody hard to put any sort of date on this bugger. The library had no info on it and neither does the church website. The style suggests it was built to complement the church and the info I've got on the church grounds suggests it was built after 1905. The sandstone looks at least seventy years old. I'm going to put the bugger at inter-war (1919 - 1939) and leave it that till I get some info.


(Big version)

Now the office, formely the Rectory (the minister's house). Built in 1913 in the Arts & Crafts style that led to the California Bungalow. Very nice.


(Big version)

Looks like a fifties building possibly on older founations and with recycled windows. The little portico thingy is cute but stylistically bewildering. It too is still in use.

It's good to get back to the every-street walkies. It's been so nice and nippy in the mornings lately it spurred me on.