This research seeks to provide a history and architectural description of the Church of Saint Patrick in Queen Street, Singleton. The church over the years has been the subject of alterations and additions, most of which reflected increase in the population of the laity and religious but also importantly echoed ritual and doctrinal  changes. In 1977 a study of the built environment of the Shire of Singleton concluded that the stone simplicity of the original design  had been lost through these many alterations and additions. 1 Since that date the additions of toilets and sacristy extensions in red commons has further detracted from the building and created architectural vandalism. In spite of these shortcomings and because of them the church in its alterations and additions  reflects the ideals and values of the community and its pastors.

St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Queen St. Singleton

The Church, like many others, owes its existence to the charity of its parishioners and in the case of Singleton its geographical location to that of John Browne. Browne, a native born, was a early land holder in the area, a local magistrate and prominent citizen. He was a generous benefactor of the Catholic church and it was he who in 1841 donated two acres of land to be the site for the cemetery and the church.

It owes its foundation and probably its name to the Irish Priest, Father John Rigney who on the 23rd.July 1848 sought funding for a new church when he opened subscriptions for `Erecting a New Church and Priests Cottage on the Catholic Church land at Singleton ‘
However, with true Catholic pragmatism the accommodation for the Priests took preference and it was not until the 20th. Feb. 1850 that the  Maitland Mercury was able to report of plans for the new church.

A further eight years were to pass before the then parish priest James Hanley engaged the Sydney architect William Munro to design the new  church. Munro was later responsible for the design of The St. Andrews College at the University of Sydney 1874-76 and according to Sternbeck he also designed St. Mary Star Of the Sea Church in Newcastle, probably before the church at Singleton. His selecion as architect could have been possibly influenced by that work. Howevr, it also known that among the citizens of the town at that time were two well known  families by the same name. It is not impossible that they and William were related and they influenced his commission of sixty pounds for the design of the church.

The reasons for the long delay of eight years between the appeal for funds and the engagement of the architect are likewise unknown. Freeland suggests that the discovery of gold near Bathurst in 1851 caused the construction of buildings in the colony to come to a standstill as tradespersons responded to the rush for gold. Whether this was the case for St.Patricks’ is open to conjecture but it is known that in 1857 there were three serious floods in Singleton, ‘each more devastating than the proceeding one’ . It is not unlikely that the priority of the parishioners might have been more pragmatic. What prompted the final impetus towards a start for the work was conceivably due to the completion of the nearby All Saints Church of England designed by Edmund Blacket but more likely by the zeal of a new  priest, James Hanley. In any case on Thursday 31 March 1859 Archbishop Polding of Sydney laid the foundation stone for a new church and the following February returned to officially open and consecrate the new building.

The Parish of Singleton then covered an area from Singleton to Murrindini and included Scone, Merriwa and Cassilis. If the memorials within the Church and the occupants of the adjacent cemetery are representative of the parishioners then they were predominantly Irish with some German and English. I think so given the earlier official policy to banish the troublesome Irish to the Maitland area and the ensuing concentration of Irish settlers in the Hunter Valley.   In the case of the Germans, the notion is further supported by the research of W. Parkes who argues of `the substantial and cohesive’ German community in the Hunter Valley in the 19th century. In the case of the German-Irish he also suggests that intermarriage between the two nationalities was not uncommon given the commonality of Catholicism and this is also supported by the memorials. They were a mixture of farmers and laborers, those who were born free, those who became free  and those who came free rather than wealthy landowners who according to Campbell belonged to `the mercantile, professional and leisure classes, (and) most of whom resided in Sydney’.

How much influence these good parishioners had on the selection of the design is not known but the original plans for the church were for a simple stone Gothic Revival building. The plans faithfully recreating in the colony what Edmund Blackett later described as a ‘fitness of association’. One that reflected the association of that style with the church buildings in England `the home land of Gothic’   Now however, most of that simplicity has been lost with additions. Its basic style however, is still Gothic with influences of the Victorian and Federation Gothic styles.

In spite of  Munroe design for a complete church with a narrow nave, a spacious chancel and sacristy only the nave was to be built. The nave ( from the Latin ‘navis’, ship ) or body which symbolised to Christians the means of transport to their spiritual home was the built in 1859 and some sixty years later that the church of today was completed .

The church up to then had followed the Christian practice of having the entrance on the west end of the nave so that the ‘spiritual aspirants commence(d) their journey in the West and proceed through the door and the nave towards the sanctuary in the east’ Thus representing in allegorical sense the way or path to salvation. Today the door faces east and accesses the nave through a somewhat convoluted entrance via the ground floor of the towers which were one of the later additions. It retains its original 8.3 metre in width but the journey to salvation has been extended by nine metres from the original 20 metres. The church was described in the local press at the time of being built ‘of sandstone, of a very superior quality’ and the stone work itself described as `axe and draft’ work . The stone was quarried from Rix’s quarry and transported the four miles to the site by Bernard McCosker. McCosker, an Irish emigrant,  was a farmer of Glendon who not only donated  his labour, towards the construction of his church, but also twenty five pounds.

The nave contains a central  passageway with side aisles and a transverse passageway halfway down on the north side accessing the original northern porch and to both sides at the sanctuary end. The floor of the church was originally wooden but is now ironite. The timber arch – braced roof originally of slate has been replaced with terra cotta tiles but is still supported by timber trusses bound together at the joints with iron bolts. The apex of the roof is approximately 15.5 metres from floor level. The previously exposed timber work of the inside of the roof has been lined and painted. The parafeted gable ends of the nave are crowned with a Celtic cross on the western end and a Latin cross on the eastern end. The gabled eastern end of the sanctuary likewise has a cross but of a design with ends of shamrocks. The outer walls which are approximately 6 metres high are tied together with sixteen typical 13 century buttresses. The builders were Alexander Anderson and Christian Trier who received 1,972 pounds for their work.

The first gallery was added in 1874 above the western end of the nave to accommodate the increasing number of parishioners.   It is three metres from the floor, the same width as the nave and five and a half metre deep. Its facade was in polished cedar with Gothic panels which has now been painted over. Cedar was the main wood used throughout for the church, including the pews which have since gone. A Mr. Daniel Morrison of Singleton was responsible for the plans and specifications whilst the builder was a Mr. Richard Southon. The cost of the works was three hundred and sixty six pounds.

Some six years later the church was again extended by the addition of the present sanctuary and sacristy (or vestry), and after six years of separation from the laity, a oratory for the Sisters of Mercy. The sanctuary, the part of the church which contains the Altar, is as was the custom one step higher than the nave. It is now 5.5 metres deep by 6.5 metres in width. The ceiling is plastered garnished with zinc decorations. The end wall contains three lancet windows  surmounted by a  wheel stained glass windows depicting several Saints, Mary and Christ. The sanctuary reflects the changes since Vatican 2 with a wooden altar table placed ‘in a central position’ in front of the original marble altar. The communion rails which post Vatican 2 were perceived as one of the ‘barriers’ between priest and people are no longer used as such as Communion is generally received standing are now on either side of the altar. The rails which were new in 1920 are made of grey and white Rockhampton marble and are inscribed with the names of the eighteen parishioners who fell in World War 1.

The sacristy which is on the southern side of the sanctuary is 4.3 metres by 3.7 metres and has two small lancet windows in the eastern wall. It has sinc been altered with the addition of a toilet for the priest done in red commons also a post Vatican 2 change.

The Oratory, locally known as the nuns chancellery, is 12.3 metre deep by 6.15 metres in width. It has a highly polished wooden ceiling and as was the custom separated from the view of the congregation by a cedar rood or choir screen in the middle of which was a pair of gates. The gates and screen along with most of the nuns it sought to hide have long gone, if not before Vatican 2 shortly afterwards.

The extensions were designed by the Maitland architect Jonathon Pender and was intended to be in local stone quarried from the common near the left side of the present Redournberry bridge. However, the work was finished in the much cheaper cement rendered brick which did little to complement the original architecture of Munro. Then in 1894 to accommodate the growing nunnery population the oratory was extended, a  gallery and southern entrance added and the large wheel stained glass window portraying the Virgin and Child was installed. The work was supervised by the Newcastle architect Frank Menkins.

The two large impressive landmark towers at the western end of the church with their battlemented crenellations parapet which gives the church a Federation Gothic effect  were added in 1920. They are a memorial to those Catholics of the parish who had died in World War 1. The laying of the sandstone foundation stones for the extension was a civil as well as a religious occasion. The stone on the southern side being laid by the Bishop whilst the stone on the northern side being laid by the town Mayor. History does not record who  laid which first.

The symmetrical facades of the towers contain contrasting levels of rectangle and lancet windows, a series of blind lancet recesses with plate tracery in the upper section. The apex of the nave parapeted gable is crowned appropriately with a Celtic cross. The two towers have pinnacles at each corner. At the same time as the towers were added the nave was extended by nine metres and the intimacy of the church probably suffered. The southern porch entry being made redundant by an entrance through the tower bottom floor. This extension of the nave is of local sandstone  which compliment the original work but the towers are in cement rendered brickwork. The towers whilst an imposing and significant landmark do not compare with the grandeur of the towers of the nearby All Saints Church. The cost of these additions were six thousand pounds. The architect is not known.

The inside walls of the church are plastered and painted to contrast with the grey sandstone brick exterior. They contain sixteen stained  glass windows. The windows are pointed arch of the narrow lancet type and  filled with stone tracery and are inscribed with the donor name and that of the memorial. They replaced the original windows and were added in the 1920 extensions. Williams notes the view that if the windows of churches were not  acutely pointed  then it would not be conveyed that the building was a church. .The lead lighted stained glass windows in general conform with the Victorian view that `a dim religious light’ with figures of a sentimental  nature were necessary prerequisites of a church.

As in Catholic churches the crucifix focus on the suffering Christ and there are the usual pictorial  presentation of his suffering and death in the fourteen terra cotter plaster Stations of the Cross, with the names of their donors. These terra cotta plaster casts replaced the original pictures again in the 1920 refurbishing but apart from these and in accordance with Vatican 2 there are  few other images .

There is no defined baptistery  and the marble Baptismal font is located at the eastern end of the nave of the church on the southern side..The few memorials inside the church commemorate the lives and death of the parishioners and their pastors. The donors to the majority by far being dated around 1920 with one in 1930 and the last not commemorating a parishioner but rather the centenary in 1982 of the arrival in the parish and Australia of the Redemptorist order.

The only monument outside church is at the western end and was  built over the grave of Fr. Murphy who died unexpectedly at the age of 35 years. It stands  about five metres high  and is built of Ravensfield stone. It now contains three inscriptions, inscribed on Kilkenny marble to three former pastors of the community. The memorial itself is surrounded by a wrought iron fence and also contains within the fence the graves of two priests.

Bibliography 

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