In 1819, Reverend Robert Boyd, D.D., arrived as minister to the Prescott Presbyterian Church. He had been sent from the Church of Scotland, where he had received his Doctorate from Queens, the Church of Scotland University. The following year he started to hold mid-week services in Mountain, South Mountain and Oxford-on-Rideau Township.

By 1826, a church had been built in South Gower, and many from the area gathered there for Divine Worship. It was constructed in what is now the South Gower Cemetery, in about the location of the present vault.

In the early 1830’s, the work had grown to the point where Reverend Boyd petitioned the Church of Scotland for a minister. Subsequently, in the spring of 1834, Reverend Joseph Anderson arrived to take up his duties. He had a three point charge: Mountain, South Gower and Oxford. In order to augment his minister’s stipend, Reverend Anderson acquired land to farm in South Gower. This farm was located on Scott Road and the Nine Mile (South Gower Drive). Reverend Anderson’s ministry lasted from 1834 to 1857.

On August 2nd, 1834, lands were purchased by three Trustees of the religious congregation of Presbyterians in Oxford-on-Rideau. The Trustees were John Dool, Robert Leo Kernahan and Andrew Homes. They paid John Hobson the sum of ten pounds for a half-acre of land, for the site of a church and burying ground. In the fall of 1834, after the harvest season, construction began on churches at Hallville (Mountain Township) and in Oxford-on-Rideau Township at Lot 20, Concession 5, on Bedell Road at the corner of Dennison Road. The church in Oxford was a plain, simple building, twenty-five feet square, built out of logs. The land between the church and the extreme north-eastern corner of the property was used as a cemetery.

In 1845, Reverend W.J. McDowell held services in this log building prior to commencing construction of the St. Paul Presbyterian Church in Kemptville.

In 1884, the remains of the early settlers who had been buried there were moved to the new Union Cemetery, which had just been opened at the south end of Oxford Mills. On January 15th, 1895, three Trustees of the Presbyterian Church in Oxford Mills, having been authorized by the congregation, conveyed the land and old church to the adjoining land owner, Hamilton Moorehead. The old church building was moved up beside the other farm buildings on the farm and eventually demolished. One of the large headstones was later incorporated as the hearth of a fireplace in a nearby farmhouse.

Today, the only indication of the first church and burying ground is a commemorative plaque which was erected near the site in 1984. The ministers of that first church, who were responsible for the pastoral care of the congregation were as follows:

1820-1834 Reverend Robert Boyd
1834-1857(?) Reverend Joseph Anderson
1845-1857 Reverend W.J. McDowell
1857-1868 Reverend Charles Quinn
1868-1872 Reverend W. Bennett
1873-1875 Reverend James Douglas
1876-1879 Reverend G.M. Clark
1880-1883 Reverend J. McIntyre

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Oxford Mills

In 1880, Trustees of the Church (John A. Lamrock, Samuel Miles Buck and Thomas Anderson) procured one-half acre of land in the Village of Oxford Mills from Michael Hanlon, for the site of a new church. This new church was not always known as St. Andrew’s. It was first called the Central Presbyterian Church at Oxford Mills. In 1896, it became the Oxford Mills Presbyterian Church. In 1925, at the time of Church Union (although it did not join Church Union), its name was changed to St. Andrew’s.

In the early days, the back section of the church yard was a burying ground. When the Union Cemetery opened, south of the Village in 1884, some of the bodies were relocated there. However, according to local sources there are still twenty-eight bodies interred here.

In addition to the church, there was also a large drive shed on the grounds which stood there well into the twentieth century. It was relocated on the site, farther back from the road, when the foundation was underpinned in 1897. It was set behind the church, and the path to it was very narrow. Consequently, if the horses got away at all, they would damage the headstones which were already experiencing deterioration from the natural elements. Consequently, the headstones were gathered up and incorporated into a cairn which was erected on the site in the spring of 1978 in memory of the early members of the congregation who were buried there.

The ministers responsible for pastoral care of the congregation were as follows:

1883-1899 Reverend H.J. McDiarmid
1889-1907 Reverend J. Chisolm
1907-1910 Reverend A.L. Howard
1910-1913 Reverend C.C. Salisbury
1913-1925 Reverend P.A. MacLeod
1926-1930 Reverend A.J. Fowlie
1934-1938 Reverend H.J. Hurlow
1938-1939 Reverend B.D. Armstrong
1940-1943 Mr. H.L. Henderson (student)
1944-1948 Reverend J.A. Botting
1950-1954 Reverend M.N. MacDonald
1955 Reverend James Hamilton
1956-1958 Reverend L. Louis De Groot
1959-1961 Reverend S. Lotfi
1961-1963 Reverend P.W. Murray, A.W. MacLeod, Reverend D. Baldson
1963-1967 Reverend John Anderson
1968-1972 Reverend Jonathon Greene
1972-1977 Reverend J.P. Schissler
1978- Reverend S.J. Kennedy

Architectural Significance:

The cornerstone for the church was laid on May 26th, 1882. The stone for the building was quarried on Robert Patton’s farm in Lot 13, Concession 5, west of Oxford Mills on the Bishop’s Mills Road. The stone was drawn to the site on the new church by men of the congregation. Joseph Wilson was the mason and William N. Acton did the carpentry work. The church was officially opened on May 20th, 1883, by Reverend Grant, the Principal of Queen’s University in Kingston.

The building is rectangular in form with a high pitched gable roof. There is one tower, located in the centre of the front façade, which houses a vestibule and belfry above and is topped by an octagonal steeple. The front of the tower is supported by two buttresses. The whole structure is raised on a stone plinth.

The building is constructed of coursed rough-cut limestone masonry and is accentuated by masonry details such as rusticated stone face on the quoins and buttresses with tooled exposed corners. The window sills are plain lug-style, each consisting of a single piece of limestone which has tooled corners and bush-hammered faces. The heads of all masonry openings have rusticated-face stone voussoirs and the keystones in the arches are diamond-shaped sandstone.

The windows in the nave and vestibule are gothic-style with pointed arches. The windows are glazed with lace tracery design glass and coloured glass in the uppermost section of the sash. There are two leaded glass windows in the vestibule which appear to be of a more recent date.

The doors are gothic-style louvred openings on the sides of the belfry and a round louvered opening on the front. The main entrance is on the south side of the vestibule and consists of double plank style doors. The head of the door opening has a flattened gothic-style arch.

The eaves of the roof have exposed rafter ends with a single molded fascia board. There is a marble date stone in the front of the tower with the inscription:

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
IN CANADA
1882

Designation Restrictions:

The designation includes the form, scale and massing of the building, including the roof shape and steeple; and includes the north, east and west facades of the building and their original exterior architectural elements. The designation does not cover the modern addition on the west side of the building and does not include the interior of the building.