St Andrew’s Anglican Peace Memorial Church

St Andrew’s Peace Memorial Church is an iconic heritage building in Inglewood and its focus will continue as a spiritual peace center for the region. The first Anglican church service in Inglewood was given by Rev. Handley Brown on June 13th, 1875. The original wooden church was placed at 35 Cutfield St and opened on October 16th, 1877, by Archdeacon Henry Govett and assisted by Rev Brown. It could seat about 100 people.

The first ANZAC service was held in this church on April 25th, 1916.

The wooden Church was shifted to the current site by Mr Newton King. He offered the Parish 500 pounds and he shifted the building. The Parish bought the current section from Mr Tarplee. The opening service of the relocated church was on March 24, 1918 by Rev. Harvie.

The concept of a concrete & steel church started during the first world war. Wooden churches were tiring, and parishioners were looking for longer lasting materials. In 1922 the new church was designed by Messenger, Griffiths and Taylor and built by Mr A Brown.

On the 17th of December 1922 a marble tablet (made by Mr W Short of Monumental Masons) was unveiled by Sir E. Chaytor. This tablet bears the names of 137 soldiers from the district who gave their lives in World War 1, 1914-18.

The current concrete & steel church was built and named St Andrew’s Peace Memorial Church. The first service was conducted by Rev. R. J. Stanton on 1st July 1923.

The St Andrew’s Church Lych-gate was erected by Mrs Elizabeth Brown in memory of her husband Mr Francis Brown who was the people’s Warden at St Andrew’s vestry for many years. Later the Brown family arranged for the gate to be designated as a memorial to Mrs Elizabeth Brown as well. It was dedicated on 29th March 1936.

Our vision: to get back into this church as soon as possible. It hasn’t been used since January 2019 when an engineering assessment deemed it to be an unacceptable seismic risk after revisions to the National Building Standards were promulgated.

For the past five years the church has stood, floodlit almost every night, but unused. There has been water leaks from heavy storms and it has deteriorated as one would expect. Before the church can be used again it will need seismic strengthening and a major refurbishment.

Church services continue in the St Andrew’s hall on Sunday’s at 10am. A number of other activities use the hall during the week.

Following the 2023 feasibility study, the Parish have appointed Ardern Peters Architects of New Plymouth to prepare a design in consultation with engineers and other experts. They will produce a set of plans and estimates of the build by January 2025.