Lisdillon Church (Mitchell Cottage)

The small church was built of local stone for John Mitchell in the early 1860s, it also functioned as the local school.

A request was sent to Mitchell's son in England asking him to approach Lord Elliott in England seeking assistance to raise funds to build the church. The reply was a long time coming, so John Mitchell decided to build and pay for it himself. The sum of £100 pounds arrived from John's son in England, but after it was built.

Lisdillon Estate was like a small village. John recruited skilled immigrants from Cornwall, who helped run the farm and lived in cottages built on the estate. Sketches of some of the buildings, including the church were done by Catherine Augusta Mitchell, some of these are in the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Tasmanian Archives, Hobart.

In 1935 Harry Jones, the son of Sir Henry Jones was living on the property. After he made many repairs he transferred the church to Trustees of Church Property. It was believed that John Mitchell had intended to sign the church over to the diocese by deed of gift, but this was never done.

In 1968 Mr & Mrs E. Smith approached the parish seeking permission to clean it up if they could use it as a holiday cottage. After two years the work was completed. The parish council were so appreciative of their work they offered to give them the church, but Mr Smith said it wasn't theirs to give and offered to buy the building, and this was agreed.

Over the years Mr & Mrs Smith turned the old church into a museum with a large collection of artefacts gathered from around the area.

In recent times Mr Smith moved into the May Shaw Nursing Centre in Swansea and the building was sold.