St Aidan’s Blackheath

The Rectory

The original rectory of Blackheath still stands on the corner of Hat Hill Road and Wentworth Street. It was built very early in the 1880s and services were held in the large front room.   Due to the state of repair of the old Rectory, a decision was taken in 1975 to sell it and build a new brick rectory alongside.  In 2010  the rectory was renovated and extended to meet the current standards.

St Aidan’s Church

Since the 1880s, St Aidan’s has remained a centre of faith and witness served by a succession of six curates-in-charge, followed by 25 Rectors and Acting Rectors.  blackheath_sketch

In 1884, the central section of St Aidan’s was erected and consecrated, financed in part by the efforts of Rev Edward Symonds, the Curate-in-Charge. There was a period of quiet struggle until the mid-nineties when the village started to grow with the development of the area as a holiday centre. The north aisle was added a few years later and the south aisle shortly after that. Truly a prime example of Australian additive building, yet it produced a quaint, picturesque design, with some beautiful carved oak furnishings and a lively little pipe organ. The completed additions were dedicated on 6 December 1902, by the Rt Rev W Saumarez Smith, the carved oak pulpit being dedicated as a memorial on the occasion.

As far as can be seen, the Sunday School has functioned with few interruptions since before the turn of the 19th century.
The congregational numbers have had many ups and downs, often reflecting the fluctuating fortunes of Blackheath. It may surprise present residents of Blackheath to know that, in the 1930s, the population of Blackheath varied, winter to summer, by a ratio of more than three to one. A good commentary on these leaner periods is given in a Parish Paper of 1959 by the Rev A R A Freeman.

The present hall was built in 1959 and owes its church-like design to the virtual re-use of the plans of the Anglican Church at Hazelbrook.

The Parish of Blackheath

In 1912 the Conventional District of Blackheath with Medlow Bath was raised to the status of “The Parish of Blackheath with Medlow Bath”. This continued until 1966 when the Parish of Mount Victoria was divided so that Hartley and Hampton went to the Parish of Littleton and Mount Victoria and Mount Wilson/Mount Irvine joined Blackheath.  In 2004 the little church at Medlow Bath was closed and the church at Hampton seconded to the nearby parish of Oberon.

(Adapted from ˜A Hundred Years of Worship 1884-1984”  written by Lewis Hodgkinson for the Centenary of St Aidans)

Rectors of the Parish since 1883
  • Rev Edward Symonds 1883-1892
  • Rev William Andsell Leech 1886-87 (locum)
  • Rev Herbet May Trickett 1892-95
  • Rev Philip William Dowe 1895-1901
  • Rev Edward Lampard 1901-1907
  • Rev George Frederick Belford Manning 1907-1912
  • Rev William Robertson Bowers 1912-1914
  • Rev Leo Rubie Connell 1914-1922
  • Rev Harold Arthur Campbell Rowsdell 1922-1934
  • Rev Willie Vaux Gurnett 1934-1940
  • Rev John Francis Gilbert Huthnance 1940-1945
  • Rev Thomas Frederick McKnight 1945-1948 (locum)
  • Rev Eric Joseph Seatree 1948-51
  • Rev John Addison Dahl 1951-1954
  • Rev Robert Aspinall Freeman 1954-1960

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  • Rev Archibald Edward Hodgson 1960-1961
  • Rev Hugh James Marshall 1962-64
  • Rev Gordon Wallace Thomas 1965-1969
  • Rev Leslie George Vitnell 1969-72
  • Rev Garrick Lancelot Child 1972-74
  • Ven Alan Edward Smirnoff Begbie 1974-77
  • Rev Brian Colin Black 1977-1984
  • Rev Neil Robert Macken 1984-90
  • Rev David Hamilton White 1990-2002
  • Rev Ian Roland Mears 2002-2006
  • Rev Earl James Hughes 2006-2007 (locum)
  • Rev Philip Albert Bassett 2007-2008 (locum)
  • Rev John Harvey Gaunt 2008-2014
  • Rev Tim McIver 2014-
VIsit us

WE MEET WEEKLY AT

08:45AM

St Peter’s Mt Victoria

10:30AM

St Aidan’s Blackheath

and monthly at

1st Sunday at 5pm

St John’s Hartley

2st Sunday at 3pm

St George’s Mt Wilson

All services are followed by a time of fellowship and refreshments