Sunday, April 21, 2013

Christ Church Cemetery, Bradford West Gwilliambury


























Christ Church Cemetery (Middletown) Bradford West Gwillambury

Christ Church Cemetery is located on the north side of Hwy 88 east of Hwy 400 in Bradford West Gwillambury. This was the site of the first Anglican Church in this area.   It was the center of the religious and social life of the hamlet of Middletown in the heyday of the Old Plank Road in the 1850’s and 1860’s.

The Stoddars Family, aka Stoddart were the first to arrive in the area. John Stoddars arriving in 1817, his son James received a patent for 200 acres in 1838, he and his wife Mary gave an acre of land to the Bishop of the Dioceses for the sum of 5 shillings.  A small additional plot at the front west corner was sold by Hugh D. Stoddars to the Rector Charles Ruthann and trustees in 1868 for 80 pounds. 

The wooden church was replaced by a brick one in 1856 and the vestry was added in 1882.  The hamlet dwindled and the church closed in the 1900’s and then was eventually demolished in the 1940’s leaving behind the cemetery.  

The earliest burial appears to be that of Mary Ann Stoddart who died on June 11, 1815 at the age of 10.  Burials continued up until the late 1800’s just prior to the church’s closing. Two cairns were erected in 1962, the first being dedicated to Christ Church and its parishioners who worshiped here. Many of these people are buried on this site.  The second is the Historical Society Plaque describing the settlement of the area.






Stoddart Monuments





Trotter Family Graves
Father, Mother and five daughters



Grave Marker of John aged 17
d. 1840's Native of Ireland.



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