CHURCH PEW
1871 - 1963Hand made church pew, flat rectangle wooden seat with four wooden legs, one in each corner that taper inwards towards the feat of the legs. Rising up from where the back two legs are attached are two wood brackets that taper in at the top. Attached to the two brackets is a long wood beam, flat at the bottom where it attaches to the brackets and curved at the top, the ends of the beam are semi circular in shape.
Rectangle wood brace attached to the inside of the front legs to the back legs. Metal rods attached diagonally to the inside of each of the two braces and to the underside of the seat.
This pew was hand made by Kelmscott resident Mr Thomas Buckingham Jnr. in 1871. He made the pew for his family to use when he built St Mary's in the Valley in the same year. Thomas built the church so he had somewhere local that he could marry his bride to be Hannah Mary Ann Salter (born 1852). They were married in the church on 3 October 1871. Thomas built the church with the help of a mason for 62 pounds, completing the project on 16 August 1871. The church was 16 feet (4.8m) x 20 feet (6m) in dimensions and was made from local timber and hand made bricks. Each of the local families was responsible for providing their own seat or pew.
The Buckingham family arrived in Western Australia from England in 1850. In 1857 Thomas Buckingham Snr. purchased land in the hills above Kelmscott and moved the family there. Thomas Jnr. was born in Devon in 1839 and came out to Western Australia with his parents. Thomas Jnr. also purchased land above Kelmscott in the late 1850s. He and his brother Alexander soon started to cut timber to supplement their income and in 1865, after a visit to a water wheel powered timber mill in Busselton, Thomas Jnr. built his own water-wheel powered timber mill on the Canning River.
Thomas and Hannah lived at their Kelmscott property, which was named 'Poplar' for the rest of their lives. Thomas Jnr. passed away in 1913, aged 74, Hannah passed away in 1919 aged 67. They had 12 children, Henry born in 1872 and Emily the last born in 1891.
In 1963 the church was demolished to make way for a new, larger church. The pew was removed an later donated to the History House.
Details
Details
Western Australia
Australia
This item is part of a collection associated with significant buildings in the City of Armadale, in this case St Mary's in the Valley in Kelmscott, the first Christian church built in the district in 1871. This building has played a role in the social, economic and or spiritual development of the district. It is also aesthetically and architecturally significant. The building can also be associated with significant people, organizations or businesses who have all had an impact on the City of Armadale.
