Carclew Primitive Methodist Church - Former

The Carclew Primitive Methodist Church, Penfield Gardens was erected/opened in 1870 and closed in 1919. Members of the Hephzibah Primitive Methodist congregation in Salisbury moved out with their dairy cows to the banks of the Gawler River, once land was surveyed here in 1849. Jonathan Roberts named his property Carclew and in 1850 donated an acre of land for a Primitive Methodist Church building. A congregation formed in 1850 and a Primitive Methodist church building opened here in 1854. In 1870 the congregation built a new semi-classical style church with red cedar from Sydney used by a local carpenter to make cedar pews and pulpit. This fine church lost much of its congregation as farms grew larger and in 1919 it closed. The Trustees maintained the cemetery. Munno Para Council took over the church (and cemetery) in 1965 until 2003 when it sold the church. It is one of the few clearly marked Primitive Methodist Church buildings still standing in SA. The earliest headstone in the cemetery dates from 1851. A school operated in the chapel from 1856-59 until Bethesda School, called Port Gawler East School became the district school. More historical information/photographs of the former church/congregation are invited. Photographs uploaded 18/2/2022.