St George's Anglican Church

87 North Street, Goderich, Ontario

St. George's, Goderich, Ontario is just one block off the central square in the downtown.   The congregation was established in 1834.   The first church building was a frame structure built on St. George's Crescent, in 1843 with a burial ground next to it.   It burned in 1879 and the present building was begun in 1880, and opened on St. George's Day, April 23, 1881.   It was built next to the rectory, which was built in 1862.

The Parish Hall was built as a separate structure in 1882, and was joined to the church proper in 1924.   The exterior of the is a light brick and there is a 168 foot spire.. The layout of the building is cruciform in shape. Unusual in an Anglican Church, the floor of the nave slopes quite noticeably down from the rear to the chancel.

Besides murals, dating from 1929, the nave also contains paintings of the coats-of-arms of all the dioceses of which St. George's has been a part: Quebec, Toronto and Huron, as well as the coats-of-arms of the Diocese of Nova Scotia in honour of the first Anglican Bishop in Canada, and of the Diocese of Canterbury, the mother diocese of the Anglican Communion.   Also in the church is an archival reproduction of the deed from the Canada Company granting the original St. George's Crescent land for the original building.   It is signed by Bishop John Strachan of Toronto.   Bishop Strachan's daughter, Mary Jones, wife of the Commissioner of the Canada Company who lived in Goderich from 1839 to 1857.   She would, no doubt, have been a worshiper in the original St. George's.

Shown left is the window of the patron saint of the parish, St. George, or "Sanctus Georgious" as the Latin caption identifies him.   Shown right is the window in the baptistery, illustrating "Suffer the little children to come unto me".   It was manufactured by Wippell's in England.   It replaced what was originally the front door.

St. George's is presently part
of a two point parish, with
Christ Church, Port Albert in the
Anglican Deanery of Huron
of the Diocese of Huron.

Rector:
Rev. Allan Livingstone

Sunday Services:
8:00am and 11:00am

Today, St. George's faces the same problems as all of the congregations with large, old buildings.   They have recently repointed the brickwork of the exterior, put a new roof on the chapel and hall, and replaced the windows in the rectory.   The murals also need some restoration work, but before this can happen, the problem of dampness in the walls must be addressed.