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.
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| Stoddart Monuments |
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| Trotter Family Graves Father, Mother and five daughters |
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| Grave Marker of John aged 17 d. 1840's Native of Ireland. |
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