St. James on-the-Lines (often written as St. James-on-the-Lines or St. James On-the-Lines) is a historic Anglican garrison church in

Penetanguishene Penetanguishene , sometimes shortened to Penetang, is a town in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the southeasterly tip of Georgian Bay. Incorporated on February 22, 1882, this bilingual (French and English) community has a populati ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The church is still in use today serving as the Anglican parish church in Penetanguishene for

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...

from Easter to

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

. The church is protected by a heritage conservation easement under the '' Ontario Heritage Act''. There are two suggested origins for its full name. The first suggestion comes from its location on the

lines of communication A line of communication (or communications) is the route that connects an operating military unit with its supply base. Supplies and reinforcements are transported along the line of communication. Therefore, a secure and open line of communicati ...

or road from the former military establishment at Penetanguishene to the south. The second possible meaning is from the old Victorian military usage of Lines for the rows of tents or buildings in a military camp."> The church was constructed close to the original military establishment buildings which lined the road.

History

The church was constructed between 1836 and 1840.

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

James Keating as commander of the Army establishment encouraged the building of the church for the use of the troops. He obtained a grant of land between the base and the town of

, The construction was financed with funds mostly raised by Captain John Moberly RN, the commander of the

Penetanguishene Naval Yard Penetanguishene Naval Yard was a Royal Navy yard from 1834 to 1856 in Ontario. Land was first acquired in 1798 near Penetanguishene and a base finally built in 1813, but it was abandoned in 1815 at the end of the War of 1812. It was reinstated ...

. Keating and Moberley are both buried in the cemetery surrounding the church. The first

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

, Rev, George Hallen served as incumbent for 36 years and is buried in the cemetery adjoining the church. After the Military Establishment closed in 1856, it became a Reformatory for Boys with Hallen as the Chaplain. Worship continued in the church with the congregation consisting of townspeople, farming settlers and military pensioners who had been granted two acre plots in the area. It remained the only

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

church in the area until the 1870s. The church was protected as a historic site by the

Ontario Heritage Trust The Ontario Heritage Trust (french: link=no, Fiducie du patrimoine ontarien) is a non-profit agency of the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. It is responsible for protecting, preserving and promoting the built, natural and cultural herita ...

in 1981 and the congregation raised funds from donations and government grants to restore and repair the deterioration of the building that had occurred. This restoration was completed by 1985. . Another Anglican church, All Saints, was established in the town in 1877 and the two congregations worshipped separately until 1997 when they began cooperating and started the current practice of summer services in St. James and winter services in All Saints which eventually led to formal amalgamation in 2008.

Construction

Exterior

The church is a wood framed

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

structure on a rubble foundation, built in the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

style with some added Gothic Revival elements. The original design was strictly Greek Revival and consisted of only one room. In 1840 Bishop Strachan of Toronto insisted on making the building look more like an English church. This was done by adding Gothic elements to the structure. The entrance was changed and a small belfry added on the west end of the church. The belfry has Gothic Revival arches and quatrefoils. At a later date, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

and

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

were added to the original building. The west, main, entrance door has ornate wrought iron hinges designed and made by one of the artisans from the military establishment.

Interior

The principal feature of the sanctuary is a colourful painted wooden reredos dating from the 1870s. The church has an unusually wide centre

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

so that the troops attending services could march out four abreast. Each row of pews was built by various members of the military and has its own individual design. The pews at the front of the church have more ornately carved ends as they were intended for officers. St James On-the-Lines memorial plaque

There is a double memorial of painted wood on one wall. One side commemorates a Lieutenant William Glascott who froze to death after falling from a cutter while returning from a "night of festivity" in the village. The other side is left blank, the most common explanation is that it was intended to commemorate a companion officer, who was expected to die as a result of the same accident but who eventually recovered and was posted elsewhere. A second story is that it was left blank as a warning to soldiers in the congregation against the dangers of intemperance and that their name could be added.

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline, St. James-on-the-Lines Anglican Church, St. James on-the-Lines
Diocese of Toronto - Anglican Church of Canada: St. James on-the-Lines, Penetanguishene
Anglican church buildings in Ontario 19th-century Anglican church buildings in Canada Designated heritage properties in Ontario Buildings and structures in Simcoe County History of Simcoe County