Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 20 August 1845, page 3


CONSECRATION OF A CHURCH.

YESTERDAY, the new Church of St. John the Baptist, recently built at Ashfield, midway be-tween Sydney and Parramatta, was consecrated by the Bishop of Australia.

The Church is a very neat edifice, the in terior dimensions of which are sixty-one feet by thirty-one feet, and is fitted up with a great deal of elegance, there being a very handsome altar screen, a reading desk, and gallery front, the carved work of which was entirely executed by the Rev. F. Wilkinson, the minister of the Church. The seats are plain open benches.

The Bishop was met at the west door by the minister and several of the inhabitants, when the petition for consecration was read ; his Lord-ship and the clergymen present then walked up the centre of the church to the com-munion table, repeating in alternate verses, the twenty-fourth Psalm. The Bishop then seated himself on the north side of the chancel, and his chaplains-the Rev. W. B Clarke, M A., and the Rev. R. Allwood, B.A.,-on the south. The Bishop then offered up the prayers appointed in the form for consecrating

churches in this diocese ; after which the usual morning service was read by the Rev. F. Wilkinson. At the end of the second lesson, the Deed of Consecration was read by the Acting Chancellor, the Rev. W. Cowper, D.D., and being signed by the Bishop, was handed to the proper officer for registration. The ser-vice was then proceeded with in the usual manner, the epistle and gospel in the Communion Service being read by the chap-lains. The sermon was preached by the Bishop from the 8th chapter of Zechariah, 3rd verse. After the sermon, the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was partaken of by a large,

number of communicants

There was a very crowded congregation, and besides the clergymen mentioned as taking part in the ceremony, there were present the Rev. Messrs. Sconce, B.A., Steele, L.L.D., Grylls, M.A., Turner, S.C.L., Bobart, M.A., Walker, M.A., Walsh, M A , and Addams.