Bell Tower at St Mary-In-The-Valley Anglican Church - Kelmscott, Western Australia, Australia.
S 32° 07.142 E 116° 01.244
50H E 407620 N 6445950
This Bell Tower is attached to St Mary-In-The-Valley Anglican Church and is located on River Road in Kelmscott, an outer suburb of Perth.
Waymark Code: WMDP5R
Location: Western Australia, Australia
Date Posted: 02/08/2012
Views: 4
The history of the original Church is sketchy and confusing, but according to records I was able to access it was built by Thomas Buckingham Junior and completed either on 16th May 1871 or 16th August 1871 and was consecrated by Bishop Hale on 29 March 1874. I suspect the completion date is wrong, and would more likely be some time closer to 29 March 1874, as it is unlikely that the Church would have been left unused for over two years, and also unlikely that services would have been held in an un-consecrated church.
The present Church and Bell Tower were constructed in 1963, the Foundation Stone laid by the Administrator of the Diocese The Venerable Brian MacDonald on Sunday 30th June 1963.
The church also has a cemetery with tombstones dating from the 1870's to the late 2000's, and memorial walls with plaques as recent as late 2011. The churchyard is appoximately 3,000 square meters in area, and the cemetery occupies appoximately 2,500 square meters of that.
As I usually do when I find a cemetery, I placed a new cache, GC3BJ14 WanAus 211 - LKA St Mary-In-The-Valley Kelmscott nearby. In order to calculate the Final Location Geocachers must examine the headstones of a number of War Veterans, one of which is quite close to the base of the Bell Tower.
St-Mary-In-The-Valley Anglican Church Kelmscott also has a magnificent pipe organ, the oldest known Pipe Organ in Western Australia. The organ was built circa 1751 in England as a chamber organ, the builder is unknown. It was enlarged in 1813 by the addition of a Swell and Pedal organ.
Located in 1969 at St Mark's Anglican Church, Eccles, Kent, UK, by Dudley Bastian, it was shipped to Australia in 1971, and restored in 1973 by Dudley Bastian.