Orwell Church

The Orwell Church (former St. Andrew's United Church) is valued as a well preserved example of a Gothic Revival style early Scottish Presbyterian house of worship in Prince Edward Island. It was constructed in 1861 for a growing congregation and was then affiliated with the nearby Belfast Presbyterian Church and shared a Minister with them. The builder was Martin Martin of Grandview and the church was designed initially to be 40 feet long and 26 feet wide with a plaster wall interior. All of the building materials and labour were donated. Even the land was donated by Peter Nicholson.

The Gothic Revival style was common in church architecture of the 19th Century. It was characterized by a strong vertical emphasis which translated into pointed arches used above windows and even doorways.

The church was expanded in 1891 with the addition of a 20 by 40 foot transept across the back of the original structure to allow for the inclusion of a pump organ and choir platform. Prior to this change, there was no music during services other than the singing of Psalms. The Scottish heritage of the congregation was strong and even into the early 20th Century, it was common for services to be conducted in Gaelic as well as English.

The adjacent cemetery, dating from 1884, is still used by the community. The Orwell congregation became affiliated with the United Church of Canada in 1925. It was amalgamated in the late 1960s with eight other smaller churches and a new St. Andrew's United Church was established at Vernon Bridge.