Constructed in 1865, St. Lawrence Anglican Church in Bouctouche features a small cemetery enclosed by a fence and is situated on the Bouctouche River’s south bank.
The inaugural service occurred on December 18, 1865, and Bishop Medley of Fredericton consecrated the church on September 24, 1870.
Bishop Medley preferred the Neo-Gothic style for New Brunswick due to the 19th-century Ecclesiological movement, a reformist movement within the Anglican Church that advocated a return to Gothic architecture from the Middle Ages. The church exemplifies the Gothic revival vernacular and demonstrates the popularity of this ecclesiastical style throughout rural New Brunswick.
Frank Wills, one of the architects who designed Christ Church Cathedral and St. Anne’s chapel in Fredericton, worked alongside John Medley.
The bell in St. Lawrence Anglican Church’s bell turret originated from the S.S. Helena, an 18th-century British vessel, and was later installed on an American vessel during the 19th century, surviving the Civil War. It has resided in the church’s bell turret since the early 1900s.
The property also holds heritage value due to its cemetery, which indicates that an Anglophone presence once existed in Bouctouche. For instance, the cemetery is the final resting place of Robert Douglass, an educated man who was a professor, surveyor, and harbor master. He also donated the land on which the church stands.
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