The Rectory of Beckwith

Photo by Alan L Brown - June 25, 2004

Plaque Location

The County of Lanark
The Township of Beckwith
In Franktown, on the grounds of St. James Church on Church Street

Plaque Text

Beckwith Township, surveyed in 1817, had among its first settlers discharged military personnel and emigrants from the United Kingdom. The Reverend Michael Harris of Perth administered to the Anglicans until a resident clergyman, the Reverend Richard Harte, arrived from Ireland in 1829. St. James, one of the oldest remaining Anglican churches in the eastern part of Ontario, was largely completed in 1828. In August, 1830, the Rt. Reverend C.J. Stewart, Bishop of Quebec, confirmed 106 candidates here. The rectory of Beckwith was created and endowed with public lands by order-in-council on January 15, 1836. Later called the rectory of Franktown, it served a parish which once included Carleton Place, Smith's Falls, Pakenham and Fitzroy.