Church Shed

Burnside Church Shed

Jane Von Bredow sent this photo of the Burnside Church shed. The picture was given to her by Bertie Hyde and she thinks it may have been from the 1930s. We welcome your comments offering any further clues from this photo and memories/stories passed down to you about the church shed.

Jane recalls her memories of the shed:

“I would dash through the shed quite often on hot, bright summer days en route to get something at the store or to get the mail, as it was a convenient shortcut from the Murchison Garden. When you entered, it was dark at first, coming from the bright sunshine and refreshingly cool. During the nesting season, the many barn swallows that nested there would be irate at the intrusion and would swoop down on me. I wasn’t really frightened by them but they were very persistent and I usually ended up hurrying to get away from them.” Jane Von Bredow

Jane also came across a clipping from The Guardian archives:

When at Clyde River corner one cannot fail to notice the well-equipped horse-shed the people worshipping in the Presbyterian Church have erected to shelter the horses used in conveying them to the house of God. Worship within the sanctuary can be better enjoyed when one knows the dumb animals, man’s good friends, are being sheltered from the wind and storm. Last winter the heavy snowfall and storms wrecked the old shed causing it to break under the weight of snow which engulfed it. The progressive spirit of the people of this place has been shown in erecting a new one, which is larger and better built than the old one. There is a higher pitch to the roof so if we had a repetition of last winter’s storms, the snow could not lodge on the roof and cause damage to the building. Its dimensions are about one hundred and twenty feet by thirty with a good driveway through the building. (The Guardian, March 3, 1924)

Thanks, Jane, for finding this nugget of history. The photo also gives us a glimpse of the Clyde River Road.