A Short History of the
Anglican Church of St. John the Baptist
in Cobble Hill.
"The Church is a spiritual concept, a structure
of the soul within which Christians worship and contemplate divinity."
Perhaps people who created St. John the Baptist, Cobble Hill parish didn't
think of their church in this sense. They simply wanted a warm, familiar
place to go to worship.
This parish began in 1887. It extended from the seashore in the east to the
west shore of Shawnigan Lake and from Cousins Hill in the south to Bench
Road in the north. The church itself was, and still is, situated on land
donated by John Nightingale who was the moving force in its construction.
The building was completed in 1889. As there was no resident clergy,
John Nightingale conducted services as the lay reader for the next 20 years.
The first ordained priest, in the early 1900's was The Reverend F.G. Christmas.
In the early 1930's the parish as a congregation was on solid footing and
growing slowly, but the church building itself was now nearly 50 years old and
was falling apart. A heavy snowfall in the winter of 1937 sealed its fate as
the roof and one wall were damaged enough to render the building unsafe
St. John's was still a small parish of modest means but the determined
congregation raised enough money that, combined with their own labour, enabled
them to build a new church which was completed in 1938 and remained intact until
1993. During this latter period, the parish, nurtured and sustained through a
difficult first 50 years, thrived. From 1938 until now the history of St. John's
Cobble Hill is marked by the efforts of its parishioners and clergy in building
the parish into an integral institution within the community and creating a
significant facility on Cobble Hill Road which serves the congregation, as well
as the community at large. Included are the church, the cemetery, the church hall,
the vicarage, and the pastoral center.
The new vicarage was the first building after the new church and it was
completed in 1952, during the ministry of Reverend Willis. The first
resident of the new vicarage was Canon R.K. Sampson who led the effort to
build a parish hall. Again imaginative fund-raising and the volunteered time
and effort of parishioners resulted in the completion of the hall in 1956.
The next forty years saw a succession of rectors serve the parish including the
Reverends S.F. Jarvis, D.J. Harris, C.R. Day, R.H. Howson, L.C. Thornton,
G.H. Rodgers, V. Mann and Barry Wyckham, all of whom added their own unique
dimension and supported the continued growth of the parish and its role within
the community.
For approximately a year after Reverend Wyckham's departure, St. John's was
under the interim guidance of The Rev. Canon Bill Morrison. In February 1998,
a shared incumbency began with The Rev. Susan Pittendrigh and The Rev. Scott
Pittendrigh. In the fall of 2001, the Reverend Scott Pittendrigh became the
Rector and has continued his work in the parish.
In 1989 the Pastoral Centre was built and funded with the support through
pledges, bequests and legacies of parishioners. In 1993 the church itself
was enlarged to accommodate the growth in the congregation. This was an
expensive undertaking that was made feasible, in part, by funds received
from a trust created by a parishioner, the late Cyril Giesen. The church as
it stands today incorporates as its core the original building erected in
1938. It is larger by double and brighter inside. It has a new countenance
yet it retains the essence of the old church in appearance and feel. It has
kept its soul. The parish hall and kitchen were extensively renovated and
enlarged in the summer of 2006, with volunteer labour led by David King.
This present church, a re-creation of its smaller predecessors, is a tribute
to the dedication and enthusiasm of St. John's parishioners going all the
way back to 1887. The history of the building of the parish is an unbroken
thread of commitment by Christian people who for over 123 years have given
continuously of their time, labour and money to ensure that the parish will
endure as a place of worship. St. John's will celebrate its
125th anniversary on June 24, 2012.
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