WHEN the colonial government wanted to build a church in the Mulgrave Place district (later Hawkesbury), Windsor was chosen, with Macquarie picking the site in December 1810 but it was six years before any move was made.
William Cox was chosen to supervise the brickmaking (220,000 of them) and a year later tenders were called. In June 1817, and the job given to Henry Kitchen, a well-connected architect who said he would build it for 2200 pounds.
The foundation stone was laid on October 11, 1817 by Macquarie, who placed a holey dollar coin beneath the stone. Kitchen presented Macquarie with a silver trowel and Macquarie gave the labourers a five gallon cask of rum. The coin was stolentwice, before finally staying put in November.
Part of an ongoing feud between Kitchen and ex-convict architect, Francis Greenway was Greenway’s assertion that the walls weren’t thick enough. This resulted in them being torn down in 1818. By 1819, on at least some of the first foundations, the walls were rising again with top quality orange-clay bricks.
By 1820 Macquarie said the church was within three months of completion and commissioned the stone plaque for this date, yet it wasn’t opened for another two years due to clashes between Rev. Samuel Marsden and Macquarie. It didn’t open officially until December 1822, by which time it had been planned for 12 years and under construction for five.
