Historical information
Mayfield Presbyterian Church, on Plenty Road Mernda.
MAYFIELD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The Mayfield Presbyterian Church at Mernda was erected in 1860, and the first service held on 23 October that year. The erection of the Mayfield Church, and others at Janefield and Whittlesea soon after, reflected the relatively large number of Scots in the Plenty Valley in the 1850s.
Presbyterian services had been held at Mernda prior to the erection of the Mayfield church. In 1851 and 1852 the Rev. P. Gunn of Campbellfield conducted services at Mr. Radcliffe’s (now the Poplars), a barn at Carome and at Moses Thomas’ newly erected house on Marsh Farm.
Mayfield Church was built on an acre of land, apparently donated by Moses Thomas. The block was a 66 feet frontage to Plenty Road. It is not clear who designed and built the Mayfield Church, although it has been generally accepted that it was Moses Thomas. Dr. Richard Ely, the historian who owns the adjacent property The Poplars, believes it was most likely Thomas, given that he possessed both the capacity and resources for the task, as well as a personal interest. For a short time, the newly completed church was called the Guthrie Church, after the prominent Scottish Free Church Leader.
Moses Thomas died in 1878. His son Walter, who had joined him on the church committee in 1861, served on it almost until his death in 1932, having been ordained as an Elder in about 1880. During the 1880s he became Superintendent of the Mayfield Sunday School, a task he also performed until shortly before his death.
On 15 October 1922 a special service was held at the Mayfield Church to celebrate its recently completed renovation, including the installation of the four still present Gloria lights. Further minor repairs and renovations have been made in recent times.
Mayfield Church is the earliest of the five Presbyterian Churches in the City of Whittlesea, predating Kalkallo (1860), Whittlesea (1863), Mill Park (1861) and Epping (1867). Like Mill Park this church was built by Moses Thomas and similarly suffers from differential settlement on the uneven foundations. Here the cracking and movement is less severe than at Mill Park and this building is reasonably sound. It appears to be the design prototype for the more elaborate Mill Park building. It is a simple preaching hall with small gabled porch. The only elaboration occurs at windows where render quoins are formed to reveal and to gable ends, where a bull's eye louvre decorates the gable, and a rendered string course terminates them. The general proportions and the squat rectangular windows give the church a Georgian character clearly based on Scottish precedent. The windows are the dominant feature of the design. They are unusually large for the size of the church and incorporated on the principal entrance facade in similar manner to Mill Park. Whereas at Mill Park the windows are also large, their pointed Gothic form clearly indicates a church. Here the windows have a domestic quality and contribute to the simple “village” quality of the building.
The bluestone walls are well executed in coursed random rubble to a much better standard than the Mill Park design. As for the initial Mill Park church (added in later) there is no separate sanctuary or vestry. The interior is remarkably plain and incorporates an altar, lectern and communion rail all within the nave. The gloria lights of 1922 survive apparently in working order.
At the rear of the large open site is a stable built c1920 for parishioners' horses.
Mayfield Church is historically significant for its association with the “Laird of Mernda”. Moses Thomas and his early effects to create a town at this site. It is architecturally significant for its simple construction probably incorporating Scottish precedents and for the high-quality use of local bluestone.
HISTORICAL REFERENCE
J.W. Payne, The Plenty, 1985.
Mayfield Presbyterian Church Mernda : Historical notes on its origin by R. Ely 1991.
City of Whittlesea Heritage Study.
Significance
Historical building in Mernda.
Physical description
2 colour photographs
