St Mark's Church Darling Point

St Mark's Church Darling Point is a favourite church for weddings in Sydney.St Mark's Church Darling Point foundation stone was laid on 4 September 1848 by Bishop Broughton at a grand ceremony in Mort's garden, to which all parties were invited including workmen and families. "The design which has been planned by Mr [Edmund] Blacket is very neat and will have a pleasing effect from the surrounding country and harbour" reported the Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 1848. The church was modelled on Holy Trinity, Horncastle in Lincolnshire, England. Edmund Blacket recommended the design and oversaw construction. Memorials inside the church commemorate local citizenry who worshipped there and contributed to Church and State: such names as Mort, Smart, Street, Fairfax and Cutler are represented.
After work was completed, St Mark's opened for divine service on 7 November 1852. It was a proud day for Mort and all those Darling Point families who had contributed to its completion. Thomas Mort, Thomas Ware Smart and Thomas Whistler Smith were the first church wardens (known as the "Three Toms"). St. Mark's became a focal point and meeting place for the whole community.
The Darling Point parishioners continued to tirelessly support the church. The bells, donated by Thomas Ware Smart in 1862, were first heard at the grand wedding of his step-daughter Mary Anne Lydia Oliver who, it was said, was attended by twenty bridesmaids. The tower and the steeple, completed in 1875, were a gift of William Bradley, whose Lindesay property was one of the earliest in Darling Point.
St. Mark’s Rectory in Darling Point Rd was based on the thirteenth century English Gothic style.