The oldest document in the possession of Christ Church records that on 10 January 1817, one acre and two perches of land, part of Lot 9, Concession 2, were sold to the Township of West Flamborough for ten shillings by Mary and John Green Sr. of Greensville. The property was deeded to Titus Simons and Manuel Olfield, Town Wardens, on behalf of the Township, for the purpose of “building a house to be used by an Episcopal Church”, a school and establishing a graveyard “for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of the Township of Flamboro’ West and vicinity forever.”
The first building erected for religious activities was a log cabin, located to the east of the present church, probably at the highest point of the present-day Municipal Cemetery. It was regarded as a “meeting house”, since it was used by all the denominations in the area – it may even have been in use before the property was deeded by the Greens.
The Anglican congregation held services once a month, or whenever a clergyman was passing through the district. There are references to baptisms, marriages and burials in West Flamborough, presumably at this site, in the records of Reverends Ralph Leeming and John Miller. Both were stationed in Ancaster, but visited the community regularly according to the entries in the registers they kept. Among the first recorded marriages that may well have taken place at this site are those of Rees Tunis and Sarah Binkley in 1811 and John Graves Simcoe Green and Susannah Ryckman in 1816.
Gradually the building came to serve only the Anglican community of the township. In 1857, Rev. Canon Featherstone Lake Osler was appointed to the Ancaster and Dundas parishes, which included the Bullock’s Corners congregation. Osler had come to Canada in 1837 and for almost twenty years had served in an area that stretched from Penetanguishine to Thornhill. Like so many of the clergy who were sent out to the backwoods of Upper Canada, Osler provided “not only religious services, the sacraments and Christian instruction, but practical assistance with farm and financial problems, and even the organizing of social gatherings.” With a large family, he finally requested a parish where his childen could obtain a good education and in 1857 Bishop John Strachan agreed to his request.
Osler instituted regular Sunday afternoon services at Bullock’s Corners and the wooden building soon became too small for the increased attendance, so church services were held in the Bullock’s Corners Hall until construction of the present church was begun. The property for the new church was obtained by the purchase of a small parcel of land from James M. Kirby and his wife Susan Nelles in 1864. The cornerstone was laid in July and the building was completed during the summer of 1865 at a cost of $2,500. The Bishop of the Diocese of Toronto, the Rt. Rev. John Strachan, consecrated the new church on 25 August 1865.
Like most small rural churches built before 1880, Christ Church is a simple one storey structure, designed in the style of an English country church. Built of squared, rock-faced, cut stone laid in a regular course, the most noticeable feature is that of the tower, which serves as both entrance and belfry. It just out asymmetrically from the main rectangle, as part of the irregular outline associated with the architectural style known as Gothic Revival. On the main facade the Gothic Revival elements are reflected through the pointed, arch windows, door transoms and the buttresses along the edge of the building. In each gable on the front facade is a paired lancet window. Glazing in many of these simple Gothic windows consisted of stained glass commemorating pioneer families such as the Cochenours, Bullocks, Greens and Kievells.
Among the gifts installed in the new church was a small stone font fastened to a Tau cross from Canon Osler, which he had received from his brother-in-law in Truro, Cornwall, England many years earlier. This unusual baptismal bowl, a prized possession of the church, had originally formed part of a British church, built about the fifth century. Tau crosses were made by the early English Christians and are only found where the Scandinavians visited Cornwall for tin. Meant to conciliate these northern traders, whose symbol of their god, Thor, was a double-headed hammer, the crosses were so named from the likeness of the symbol to the Greek letter Tau or T. A small plaque below the font states that the “cross is stepped in a Canadian stone, thus forming a link between the ancient British and Canadian church.”
Following the establishment of the Diocese of Niagara in 1875, Rev. Thomas Geoghegan was appointed as the first minister to the new joint parish of Bullock’s Corners, West Flamborough and Rockton, Beverly Township. During his ministry, the west end of the building was extended, the tower of the church enlarged, the burial ground laid out and planted, a pipe organ installed and the first organist, Mr. Richard Humphreys, was appointed.
Although he only stayed until 1887, Rev. Geoghegan was fondly remembered by the congregation, who “found him unafraid of hard work, either in his pastoral duties or in maintaining the church fabric.” It was said of his preaching that “he was not eloquent, but that his sermons were full of good sense and home truths.” When he left West Flamborough, Rev. Geoghegan went to the working-class district of Hamilton which had been largely ignored by the wealthier members of the city’s Anglican community. He won great respect for his parish work, especially with delinquent boys and discharged prisoners, and in 1890, with a strong vision and virtually no funds, he founded the St. Peter’s Home for Incurables, that today is known as St. Peter’s Hospital.
Adjacent to Christ Church is the original burial ground that formed part of John Green’s donation to the township. The cemetery has been known by various names during its almost two hundred year history, and it was almost certainly in use before it officially became a municipal cemetery in 1817. Adjoining this, and now perceived to be a part of it, are two early family cemeteries, the Tunis Family Plot and the Morden Cemetery. The northern section of the Morden Cemetery is known as the “Black Cemetery” for, according to Morden family history, some of the slaves that the family brought with them from New Jersey are buried in this section.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 2005, 2024.
