St. Bartholomew’s Memorial Stone Municipal Heritage Site

St. Bartholomew’s Memorial Stone has been designated a municipal heritage site by the Town of Harbour Breton because of its historic value.

St. Bartholomew’s Memorial Stone has historic value due to its original use and its connection to Newman and Company, one of the largest English West Country merchants firms to operate in Newfoundland during the nineteenth century. This dark sandstone slab was originally the altar top of the first Church of England church in Harbour Breton, which was built in 1841 and named St. Bartholomew’s. The stone was brought to Harbour Breton on a Newman and Company vessel and donated to the church by the firm. Newman and Company contributed greatly to the construction of the church, which was located on the south side of the community, on the Newman and Company plantation. It measured roughly 14 metres by 8 metres and could seat 250 people.

When this church burnt down in 1895, the stone was saved and was used for the altar top in a second church, which was built on the same site. During the late 1960s the stone was brought to the north side of the community and displayed in the yard of the third St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church.

At this time, Society of United Fishermen Lodge No. 50 of Harbour Breton had the stone engraved with the names of “those of the congregation who gave their lives in World War II” on one side, and the names of “the faithful priests who served this parish” on the other side. The stone was erected in the new churchyard in the early 1970s and unveiled at a Remembrance Day church service. St. Bartholomew’s Memorial Stone now stands as a reminder of the long history of the Church of England and Anglican faith in Harbour Breton.