ST
AUGUSTINE ANGLICAN CHURCH, PROSPECT
261 RICHMOND ROAD
The southeastern portion of Beckwith was
largely settled by Irish immigrants from County Wexford. They were
predominately Anglican, members of the United Church of England and Ireland,
the official name at that time. In the early days there was no Anglican Church
between Franktown and Richmond. First services were held in a small school
house west of Prospect.
Sawmill owner William James
donated land on a grassy knoll overlooking the village of Prospect for the
Anglican Church and cemetery. St Augustine’s United Church of England and
Ireland, Prospect, was built in 1854 by stone mason John May. Parishioners
supplied lumber and stone for the church. When complete the church had a
seating capacity of 120.
A pointed window was
originally on the front wall of the vestibule with doors on either side wall,
reflecting the custom of men sitting on one side and women on the other during
services.
In 1888 the St Augustine congregation became part of the
Parish of Ashton. The church was officially closed in 1967 but the parish of
Ashton maintains the church, cemetery and surrounding grounds. Annual cemetery
memorial services are held at 2.30 pm
on the first Sunday of August
each year. Contact Christ Church in Ashton at 613-253-2878 for more
information.
THE WILLIAM JAMES HOUSE, PROSPECT
265 RICHMOND ROAD
William James built this house in about 1840, on a
hundred acre parcel of land acquired in 1839. Georgian style, it is of rubble stone, with large twelve over twelve-paned windows. The wood paneling in the interior is largely intact.
In a comprehensive history
of Beckwith, there is a photograph of the house and statement, “The graceful
elliptical curve of the fanlight over the front entrance to this house was rare
in Beckwith’”. The house has become well known in Canada because photographs of
the transom over the front door have been featured at Upper Canada Village and
in books of architecture. Unfortunately the original porches on two sides of
the house no longer exist.
William James was a successful Anglican immigrant from county Carlow in
Ireland. He used funds from sawmills in Prospect to build the house for his
large family. He and his wife Sarah had eleven children; the youngest Maria,
lived in the house until 1921.
PROSPECT HOUSE
314 RICHMOND
ROAD, PROSPECT
From the mid 1800s until 1974 there was a
general store in this location. About 1900 the original wooden structure was
moved to the back of the property and converted to a barn and the current brick
building built. Over a century and a half the Prospect Village General Store
serviced the village and surrounding farms. A gas pump was added in the 1920s,
as automobiles become more common. Some of the names associated with the store
over the years: Craig, Nichol, Baton, Poole, Saunders, Featherstone, Tubman and
Makinson
In 1975, the
present owners purchased the property and the house was extensively renovated
and restored over 31 years. Great care has been taken to keep the turn of the
century character of the house. The old two-story summer kitchen and former
apartment was torn down and rebuilt to match the main house. The extension was
designed for a home office and a ballroom dance studio. In keeping with the
character of the house, a Victorian style octagonal sunroom with rooftop
balcony was built onto the corner of the extension in 2000. A matching gazebo
and stone patio were added two years later.
UNITED CHURCH, PROSPECT
414 RICHMOND
ROAD
A
number of the early Irish settlers in the Prospect area and the ‘Derry’ were
staunch Methodists. First ministered to by Ezra Healy, a circuit rider who
traveled over a wide area to preach the gospel, they built their first church
building in 1824, a small log structure, across the road from the stone church
that remains today.
William Kerfoot donated a section of his
land to this congregation in 1842. Mr. Kerfoot, a stonemason, built the fine
stone Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in 1847. Originally it had a high balcony at
the back and probably a door in what is now the rear wall. In 1904 there were
extensive renovations, the balcony removed and the two windows on the north
side closed in. The sheds beside the church were used for sheltering the
parishioners’ horses on Sundays.
The cemetery next to the church predates
the stone building with graves dated in the 1830s and 1840s. Some uninscribed
flagstone grave markers are possibly even earlier.
In 1925 Prospect Methodist
Church entered into union to form the Ashton pastoral charge of the United
Church of Canada. With declining membership, the church closed in 2002 . It is
now owned and maintained by Beckwith Township.
THE “DERRY” SCHOOL
616 KIDD ROAD, ASHTON
The “Derry” schoolhouse was built in 1870. The limestone was quarried on
the lot where the building stands, the stone hauled by John H. Ferguson,
carpentry work completed by Duncan McGregor of Prospect. The bell and belfry
were placed on the school in 1890, purchased by funds raised by Fred Kidd who
was the teacher during that term. The original belfry remains; unfortunately
the bell is missing.
The property was first owned by Samuel
Leach who came to Canada in 1799. Ten years later he sold the property to John
Ferguson who left it to his son Dougald who agreed to have the school built on
his land in 1870.
The original schoolroom has been largely
preserved over the past 137 years, noteworthy for the eleven-foot ceilings and
the tongue and groove ash walls. The families of children who attended the
school milled the wood.
Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Morgan purchased the
school in 1972 after it being empty for 25 years. They began to renovate,
adding a modern kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, sewing room, sunroom and storage
area. The current owners took possession of the home in 1998 and continue to
renovate and landscape, maintaining its originality and the peacefulness of
rural living.
CALEDONIAN SPRING FARM
404 KIDD ROAD,
ASHTON
Peter McLaren, a sawmill owner, inherited this property from his
bachelor uncles Duncan and Colin McLaren and built this house in 1902. The “
New England” style of the house was typical of “Derry” houses of the time.
Lumber for the 32’ by 32’ framed structure was harvested from the property. There
is a quarry stone foundation, tin siding, and originally tin roofing. A summer kitchen was attached to the north
wall of the house.
A
fire in the early 1980s destroyed the embossed tin ceiling in the kitchen. The
foyer ceiling is apparently the same style. The layout of the house has
remained basically unchanged, foyer with staircase to the second floor, living
room, dining room, large kitchen, pantry, small washroom and second staircase.
The second floor consists of a large hallway from which 4 bedrooms and large
washroom can be reached. A door opens on to the deck above the front porch. The
third floor [the former attic] was converted to a family room/ office space.
The house remained in the McLaren family until
the early 1980s. The present owners bought the house in 1994 and have been
restoring and renovating since.
BRINKLOW FARM
9337 HIGHWAY 7
James and Girsal McFarlane emigrated from Comrie, Scotland and settled
on this property in June 1828. The
centre hall stone farmhouse, with decorative quoins in the style of similar
houses in Comrie, was built in the 1850s. The house features sidelights and
transom around the front door and large windows. As was common at the time the
house was situated in the middle of the farm, about a quarter- mile from the
concession road.
The farm remained in the family until 1972.
The present owners have lived in the house
since 1987 and sense the history of this fine structure. The rear extension was
designed by John Edwards and built by a local contractor and local tradesmen in
1991. Reproduced photographs of James and Girsal McFarlane hang in the front
hallway, courtesy of John and Donna McFarlane.
The Old Mill at Ashton
The Old Mill at Ashton,
situated on the banks of the Jock River, was originally built and operated as a
grist mill in the 1930s, 40s and 50s by the Montgomery family.
When the grist mill moved its
operation in the 1960s, the building was left empty. During the next 15 years
in a previous life, it became an auction hall and flea market.
In 1983 Geoff and Val Snudden
purchased this derelict building in the small village of Ashton “with a vision”
… an English pub that was to play an important part in village life. A
welcoming place to relax, have conversations with friends, a place where
refreshment and hospitality and humour, all abound. The rest is history.