St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church

In December 1851, the foundations of the church were set out. The following month, Bishop Davis celebrated Mass nearby, then laid the foundation stone for the church, proclaiming it to be under the patronage of St Joseph.

In December 1857 it was ready and was solemnly blessed and opened by Archdeacon McEnroe, not as St Joseph's but as St Charles', named for St Charles Borromeo, the patron saint of Bishop Charles Davis, who had laid the foundation stone but had not lived to see the work finished. With a handsome stained glass window over the altar, and a belfry for two bells, it was described as "centrally located on the Parramatta Road, leading from Bedlam Ferry to the village of Ryde...the neatest and prettiest country church we have seen".

Much has changed in the century and a half since. The road the church overlooks is now Victoria Road; the Bedlam ferry has been replaced by the Gladesville Bridge; and the village of Ryde is now the centre of the City of Ryde, with a population of over 90,000. In the last census, over 65,000 of these declared themselves to be Christian, and of them, more than 29,000 as Catholic, more than any other denomination.

That first little country church was sympathetically rebuilt in 1934, with the original stone reused and the original western entrance and belfry incorporated in the handsome new building.