Mt. Newton X Road

Early settlement of Mt. Newton Valley

Early settlement of Mt. Newton Valley

 

Known to be the oldest church in BC still on its original site and having been in continuous use since being built, St. Stephen's Anglican Church was once an important center to a new and, for quite some time, isolated community.  It is now little known, few remembering or knowing it's history or significance to the area.

The history of Vancouver Island is very recent.  White settlement didn't start until the building of Fort Victoria, a fur trading outpost of the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1843.  Farms were needed to support the Fort and provide fresh produce.  One of the earliest settled in the area was Craigflower Farm, named after the farm in England owned by Andrew Colville, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company.  Craigflower farm was one of the very first farming communities in all of Western Canada, and it was to this farm that an enterprising young Scotsman, William Thomson, found his way, via an eventful route, in 1854.