Leaving Adelaide, we drive up Main North Road, turning off at St Clements St to find the sanctuary of the carpark behind the Church. From here we walk around the Church in a clockwise direction. The Church is constructed of local stone with red brick facings, a style which was quite common in the era in which it was built.
2. VESTRY
The large vestry has obviously been an after-thought, but it matches the older Church quite well.
3. THE TOWER
The tower is a feature at the front of the Church. The Church itself stands at the top of a small rise, and in the older days Church and tower were used as a guiding landmark by sailors approaching Adelaide up the Gulf. There has been some higher round-about construction since those early days!
4. LOOKING BACK
We admire the colourful little garden, and look forward to investigating the Church windows from the inside.
5. FRONT VIEW
The Church is well kept, and imposing from the front. We notice the memorial in the front corner. We shall find a bell-pull in the porch shortly, so presumably there is a bell in the tower, but I can find no information about it.
6. SIGN
St Clement’s has a smart and informative sign. There is a Church Hall to our left here which houses the Book Shed.
7. MEMORIAL
This memorial commemorates 150 years of worship at St Clements, 1858 – 2008. The foundation stone was laid on 27th July 1858.
8. PAST THE TOWER
We continue our walk around the Church, noticing the Gothic arches above the windows, and the brick buttresses between.
9. SANCTUARY APSE
Here we stand by the sanctuary end of the Church. There is a rectangular extension from the nave with an attached half-hexagonal end, but then there is an end gable. Whether or not this is an apse depends on the leniency of your definition!
11. PORCH
The porch contains various items relating to the recent COVID pandemic. We notice a bell-pull too: temptation!
12. NOTICES AND PLAQUE
To the right of the inner door is a brass plaque in memory of the Reverend Frank Mayger. Mayger was Rector of St Clements from 1967 to 1979, and worked very hard to organise and supervise the major restoration work carried out at that time.
14. ROOF
The wooden interior of the gable roof is attractive, and shows strong structural lines.
15. WORSHIP SPACE
Yes, this is a fine worship space! We shall shortly look more closely at the sanctuary, but for now we note the two attractive black wrought iron screens, the baptismal font and Paschal candle at left, and the ewer, lectern, organ and statue at right. The two doors at right lead through to the vestry.
16. LEFT NAVE
On the left wall are three interesting windows, and a bright colourful banner. The windows were given by Mrs Agnes Baker ‘in memory of her late husband, Les, and for all those who have no memorial’. (23-3-89)
17. LEFT NAVE WINDOWS
We look at the windows in detail, from left. • St Luke as a caring and experienced physician, with a mother and child. • A happy St Francis surrounded by animals. • St Clement, the Church’s patron saint, as an early pope with a letter he wrote to Corinth. I suspect there may be some real life Church history recorded in the faces!
18. CHAIR AND HANGING
At left is an attractive bishop’s chair (cathedra?) – somewhat misplaced I would have thought. It bears the arms of the Diocese of Adelaide, and was given in 1977 by St Ninian’s Church in memory of Charles Cane. • The colourful wall hanging behind the priest’s prayer desk is known as ‘The Mantle on the Wall’. It is claimed to be a reminder that Jesus embraces us with love and helps us to be like the wise man who built his house on rock.
19. RIGHT NAVE
We turn to the right side of the nave where there are just two windows (because of the vestry), and a framed banner.
20. BANNER AND WINDOWS
The Mothers’ Union banner was used from 1859 to 2011. With an aging congregation the number of members had declined so much that it was not viable for the ladies to continue. It was decided to have the banner framed to preserve it. • The St George legend is recreated with St George dressed as a crusader having conquered the dragon, with the maiden in the background. The face is of Les Baker, at his wife’s request. • The right window shows Martha in a serving role, ladling food into a bowl for three waiting children. • At right is a memorial plate for the gift of the windows (see #16).