inSPIREd Sunday

Sally hosts inSPIREd Sunday!

I found this in my drafts folder from 2013!! I looked back and found a post from 2015 where I had gone inside.

October 2013 - Toronto ON

The Church of the Holy Trinity is an Anglican church in downtown Toronto, Canada at Trinity Square.


This church sits in the shadow of the ugly massive shopping mall (shudder) Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto. The square that surrounds the church is a mecca for the homeless and the smokers from the surrounding office towers.


Also nearby are two courthouses. The church motto on its website is "offering justice in the heart of the city".


It offers a sanctuary from the bustling commercial surroundings. 

The Church of the Holy Trinity opened in 1847 following the gift of an anonymous donor (later revealed as Mary Lambert Swale of Settle, England). Mrs. Swale had stipulated that all pews were to be free and unreserved, a tenet of the High Church party in England at the time.

Located behind the Eaton Centre, adjacent to Holy Trinity Church, can be found 6 Trinity Square which was , the home of the Reverend Henry Scadding between 1862 and 1901. The historic plaque on the building reads: "Scadding was born in Devonshire, England in 1813, and came to Upper Canada in 1821. Educated at Upper Canada College and Cambridge University, he was ordained to the Anglican priesthood at St. James Church, Toronto, in 1838, and the same year became Master of Classics at Upper Canada College. In 1847 Scadding was appointed first rector of the nearby Church of the Holy Trinity, where he served until 1875. He lived in this town house, which complements the church and was designed by William Hay, from its completion in 1862 until his death. Here Scadding, a noted scholar, wrote numerous religious, literary, and historical works, including his best-known books, 'Toronto of Old'(1873) and, in collaboration with J.C. Dent, 'Toronto: Past and Present' (1884)."

inSPIREd Sunday

Sally and Beth host inSPIREd Sunday!

June 2015 - Toronto ON

Holy Trinity Church, located behind the Eaton Centre in Trinity Square Park is open to the public from 11-3 weekdays.

You can read an interesting article about the church here along with historical photos around the area.

The modest Gothic Revival structure was built in 1847 by architect Henry Bowyer Lane, who also designed Little Trinity Anglican Church on King Street and St. George the Martyr Church in Toronto. The funds for its construction were a gift from Mary Lambert Swale of Settle, England. Swale had originally made the donation anonymously, but her name was eventually revealed. She had provided the gift with the stipulation that the church be open to the public, with no reserved pews.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Strachan was a key figure in the Family Compact. Yet after the 1837 rebellion, he faced criticism over his affluent lifestyle and the church’s dominance. With the money, Strachan hired Henry Bowyer Lane to design the church, to be located in St. John’s Ward, on the site of an estate northwest of Yonge and Queen. Almost 50 years later, it was revealed that the mystery donation came from a young British woman named Mary Lambert Swale. Born to a family of wealthy bankers and lawyers, she married Hogarth Swale, a Yorkshire Anglican priest. Though they never visited Canada, the couple learned about Toronto from Strachan’s articles in an Anglican journal. Swale died in May, 1845, at the age of 25. The bequest had been part of her will, as was a similar gift to establish a place of worship for Australian convicts.