Description of Historic Place

St. Elizabeth's Anglican Church is a wood shingle clad Gothic country church with a corner spire, located on a hilltop in central Queens County, overlooking farm fields in the rural community of Springfield, Prince Edward Island.

Heritage Value

St. Elizabeth's Anglican Church is valued for its age, very good condition, its excellent architectural design by PEI architect William Critchlow Harris (1854-1913) and its associations with the history of its community of Springfield, Prince Edward Island. The church has long been associated with the Haslam family, an early settler family who emigrated to PEI from Ireland in 1818.

In 1838, Sir Gabriel and Lady Louisa Augustus Wood and her sisters, land proprietors of the area, donated several acres to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for an Anglican church and cemetery.

St. Elizabeth's Anglican Church was built in 1848 by Thomas Haslam (d. 1865 aet 82) and sons from lumber hewn from the property, and now forms part of the Anglican Parish of New London. Thomas Haslam's wife, Elizabeth passed in 1848 and was the first burial in the newly established cemetery. The church was consecrated in 1849 by Rev. John Medley, Bishop of Fredericton, New Brunswick and Rev. J. Herbert Read was its first rector.

The original 1848 church, is incorporated in the current structure, which was modified in 1885 by the addition of a chancel. Renowned PEI architect William Critchlow Harris (1854-1913), was contracted in the late 1880s to design significant additions to transform the simple Georgian structure to a High Victorian Gothic church. The roof was raised, a corner steeple and triple lancet window were added, sloped buttresses added to the side elevations, and significant interior changes were made.

Numerous members of the Haslam family have been involved with the church since its early days of establishment to present day, with its construction and continuing maintenance, and by serving in various church roles as wardens, church council, priests and volunteers who tend the cemetery.

In 2007, the St. Elizabeth's Anglican Church committee received a PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation Heritage Architectural Preservation Award. Following a successful and well-attended Haslam family reunion in 2018 to mark the 200th anniversary of Thomas Haslam's arrival in PEI, the Haslam Founders Stone and memorial plaque was unveiled on the church property by Her Honour, Antoinette Perry, Lieutenant Governor of PEI. The sandstone was quarried from the original Thomas Haslam farm.

This well-built and lovingly maintained church is a testament to the determination of early settlers and worshippers in the heart of the province. St. Elizabeth's Anglican Church continues to be an important asset to Springfield's landscape and is a tangible reminder of the community's history and faith.

Source: Heritage Places files: #4310-20/S54, Dept of Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture, Charlottetown, PE

Character-Defining Elements

The heritage value of the church is shown in the following character-defining elements:

- the scale and massing of the building
- the pitch and slope of the roof
- the wood shingle cladding
- the batten and board detailing on the peak of the front façade
- the size and placement of the rounded arched windows with tracery on the side elevations
- the square entrance tower, with string-course, pointed arched window on east elevation and pointed arch louvres and vertical board detailing
- the stained-glass lancet windows on either side of the large Gothic stained-glass window with trefoils on the front elevation
- the buttresses on the side elevations and corners of the spire
- the original wood entrance door

Further contributing character-defining elements:

- the setting of the church on a hilltop overlooking Springfield
- the Haslam Founders Stone and memorial plaque marking the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Haslam family in PEI on the church property