Written By Bill Simpson
St John’s Anglican sits at the heart of Glencoe at the junction of Main St and Concession Drive, a corner it shares with the Presbyterian and United church buildings. What we see today is the second structure of its name to occupy this plot.
We have no pictures of the previous church building that was erected in 1869, so we start with the current structure which replaced it, erected in 1893 at an estimated cost of $8000. Designed by the noted London architects Moore and Henry, it takes the usual layout of an Anglican church of a nave and chancel, a vestry attached to the chancel to allow the minister separate access, and a generous basement to host other church activities.
The church was designed with a gothic revival flavour: pointed arches on the windows, brick buttresses and decorative pinnaces on the tower.
Entering through the porch and main door, we step into the nave which is filled with rows of brightly varnished oak pews, whitewashed walls with gold stencil borders, coloured glass in the windows, and high oak beams, bevelled and cusped and edged in red paint, supporting the ceiling of wooden strips.
The overall impression is light, warm and welcoming.
The chancel is framed by a gothic arch rendered in plaster, through which we can see oak pews for the choir on the left, a pipe organ on the right, a beautifully worked reredos (back screen) and altar, and above that a large luminous stained-glass window.
There are many memorials in St John’s which mark the donations made by congregants over the years, but there are three which stand out and are worthy of note to the casual visitor.
As you enter the church from the east door, turn to the left and you will see a large richly coloured stained-glass window depicting “Christ knocking on the door”. This window remembers Thomas Strong, an immigrant farmer from the south of England in the 1870’s, widowed in 1907, and died in 1927, leaving money to install the window. He was also responsible for the loan that paid for the minister’s residence on the opposite side of Main Street, in use until recently.
In the Chancel, the reredos and altar remember George Ward and his family, eponymous founders of Wardsville back in the early 1800’s.
These items were originally in St James Anglican Church of Wardsville, which was sadly demolished in the 1930’s after being fatally undermined by adjacent road construction.
Above the reredos and altar is the most beautiful feature of the church – the stained-glass window depicting the Ascension of Christ to heaven. This was created by Hobbs of London, a noted manufacturer of stained glass. The design, colours and execution of this window are particularly fine and would not look out of place in any church anywhere.
The window was installed in 1917 and remembers Anna Moss, the much-loved organist of the church who died unexpectedly at the age of 47. Anna Moss was one of the leading lights of the church and had campaigned for an organ back in the 1890’s.
Today, St John’s Anglican is an active church and the building is beautifully maintained. In recent years, the congregation of the United Church gave up their own building, and crossed the road to join the Anglicans in worshipping at St John’s, forming a unique new ecumenical congregation.
In July this year, The Reverend Bonnie Rayner retired after 12 years of outstanding service to the church and the community and the Reverend Canon Nick Wells of St Peter’s Tyrconnell was appointed Interim Priest-In-Charge of St John’s on August 1st 2025.
