VISUAL TOUR AND MAPS of Sacred Spaces

 
The first Sister's Chapel was built as a transept on the side of the parish church sanctuary in 1881 for the Sisters of Mercy who had arrived from Ennis in 1875. The Sisters lengthened this building (the small windows) and added a beautiful rose window. It was also the Boarders' Chapel, In 1975 it reverted to use by the parish.
The bulding of the Convent of Mercy commenced in 1893 on land bought by the Sisters from the sons of John Browne.It is dedicated to St Patrick. The Convent's three wings - west, north and east - took sixteen years to complete. The original building had wrought iron balconies which were replaced in the 1940s by brick arches.
View of west wing of Convent, St Patrick statue, and first Sisters' Chapel in jacaranda season

Front entrance to the Convent Chapel, with rose garden in foreground. The Chapel was built in 1925 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Sisters in Australia. It is a memorial Chapel to the Singleton Foundress, Mother Mary Stanislaus Kenny, and dedicated to her patron, St Stanislaus Kosta, a young Polish Jesuit Novice, whose statue can be seen in a niche above the door.

Architect: Thomas Silk, Maitland
The rear rose garden of the Convent showing Rosary Walk, a covered walkway used by the Sisters for shelter, and also for walking up and down reciting the rosary
Convent Chapel interior. This magnificent building, the spiritual centre of the convent since 1925, has to be seen to be believed.

Looking east across front garden towards St Catherine's College (1911), statue of St Patrick and Cottage Museum. The College is now the property and responsibility of the Parish.

Architect F.G. Castleden

The fernery showing a section of the tesselated pavement (Menkens) connecting the Convent to the Old Nun's Chapel Garden view
The oldest building of Sacred Spaces is the Cottage Museum. It was completed in 1856 as the first permanent residence for the priest, on land donated by John Browne, pastoralist. In 1875 it became the first Convent of the Sisters.

The map below will guide you to Sacred Spaces

FROM NEWCASTLE/SYDNEY

Turn RIGHT at the Boundary Street lights
(the first as you enter Singleton from Newcastle)
PROCEED along Boundary Street to its end.
Turn LEFT into Queen Street.
Sacred Spaces is on your RIGHT .

FROM MUSWELLBROOK

Turn LEFT off New England Highway
immediately after crossing the bridge into town;
Turn RIGHT at the EXIT from the bridge.
PROCEED along Queen Street.
Sacred Spaces is on your left.

ENTER ON FOOT THROUGH MAIN CONVENT GATES

The site plan below will help you locate the different buildings that make up Sacred Spaces.


For tours wait at the Museum for your guide.
To reach the Chapel walk to the left, past the fernery and along the Convent west verandah.

Contact Sacred Spaces sacredspaces@singmercy.org.au

The Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy, Singleton, is a member of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia