Church of St. John the Baptist

Buckland
A quiet rural village noted for the beauty and historic importance
Located 63 km north east of Hobart on the Tasman Highway, Buckland is a quiet rural village noted for the beauty and historic importance of its St John the Baptist Anglican Church.

The district around Buckland was originally known as Prosser Plains. It was settled in the 1820s and the oldest house in the district 'Woodsden', which lies north east of the town, was built in 1826. In 1846 Governor Franklin renamed the tiny settlement Buckland, after William Buckland, Dean of Westminster (1845-56) who as a noted geologist (he had been appointed Professor of Mineralogy at Oxford University in 1813) had tried to reconcile geology with the Bible.

Today Buckland's historic features include the Buckland Hotel, which was licensed in 1845 (although extensively modified the original bar still exists) and St John the Baptist Church (turn at Sally Peak Road).

Things to see:  

The historic stained glass window in the Church of St. John the Baptist

St John the Baptist Church
The importance of St John the Baptist Church is partly its age - it was built in 1846 to a design by architect Crawford Cripps Wegman - and its East Window. There has been much speculation about the age of the East Window with some people claiming that it was originally designed for Battle Abbey in England, a church which dates from 1094. The story is that before the famous Battle of Hastings, which was actually fought at Battle in Sussex, William the Conqueror vowed that if he won he would build an abbey to commemorate his victory. Legend has it that he built the Abbey where the English king Harold II had fallen. The church was pulled down during the Reformation and it is possible that the window may have found its way out to Australia.

The problem, however, is that experts believe the window in St John the Baptist Church was created sometime in the fourteenth century (some 300 years after the Battle of Hastings). The mystery of the window probably started because it is accepted that the Reverend F. H. Cox, who was Rector of the church from 1846-48, brought it to Australia when he emigrated from Sussex. One account even has Lord Robert Cecil, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, giving the window to Cox before he departed from England. Whatever the story it is still remarkable to see a fourteenth century church window in a church which wasn't built until 1846. The church's graveyard is also of particular interest.

	Hotels
	Buckland Inn Kent St Buckland TAS 7190 Telephone: (03) 6257 5114
	Restaurants
	Buckland Inn Kent St Buckland TAS 7190 Telephone: (03) 6257 5114