Saturday, April 23, 2011

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church & Cemetery (Wildfield) Brampton

St. Patrick's R.C. Church, Brampton


Cairn Containing Headstones from
the Original Settler Burials

The Wives of Barnard McMahon

Cairn with the names of 375 people


St. Patrick's R.C. Church and Cemetery is located on the S/E corner of The Gore and Mayfield Roads in Brampton. The area was originally called Grantville in 1833 after a scotch settler named Simon Peter Grant, then Gibbon in 1873 after Father John Joseph Gibbon and finally in 1891, Wildfield.  In 1834, 200 acres were deed to the trust of St. Patrick's Parish with the N/W corner being designated as a cemetery. The rest of   the property was used as a farm to educate orphaned boys The first registered burial occurred in 1833 that of Catherine Burns.  The present day church on the property was built by Father Francis McSpirit in 1894.

In 1964 the upright head stones were gathered into the cairn which is located at the front of the property and only in ground monuments are now used.  A cairn also contains a large bronze plaque containing the names of 375 settlers who were buried here.  The parish is still active, but the cemetery is only open to those who have family plots. This site is a designated heritage site by the Brampton Heritage Board.



2 comments:

  1. I happened to stop here today, just to take pictures of the pretty church -- I was so glad to find this blog entry so I could have a little more history about it. Thanks!

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  2. The parish of St. Clare Catholic Church in Claireville/Clairville (Etobicoke Township) was relocated to Wildfield in 1911 as was its cemetery so many of the original settlers may come from that community. The hamlet of Claireville was at the junction of three townships (Etobicoke, Toronto Gore, and Vaughan) but geographically within Etobicoke (SE corner of Steeles and Indian Line Road (now Hwy 427/Hwy 50).

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