A piece of Macleay Valley history is up for purchase with the former Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart located on Sherwood Road listed for sale by Kelly Flanagan Real Estate.
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The property is located on 4047 square metres of land and comes with tank water, a self-composting toilet and plenty of history.
The deconsecrated church has stood on the hill away from floodplains since 1910.
Realtor Kelly Flanagan is no stranger to selling churches having sold an Anglican church in Bellbrook earlier this year for $210,000.
She also sold a Euroka church last year that had been renovated into a dwelling for $800,000.
"[Churches] are hugely popular," she said.
"They always get a lot of attention.
"We get absolutely inundated whenever we sell a church."
Potential buyers have been interested in using the building as an art studio, function centre or wedding business but Ms Flanagan said most want to renovate it and make it into a home.
The church is listed under the Kempsey Local Environment Plan 2013 due to its significance to the history of Sherwood.
Any works planned for the property will need to adhere to Kempsey Shire Council regulations, particularly those required for heritage sites.
"Everything revolves around if you want to convert it into a dwelling," Ms Flanagan said.
"You have to put a developmental application into council and you have to go through a normal process like anyone would when they're building a home."
Ms Flanagan said that the Sydney based owners came to the decision to sell the property due to being unable to attend to the property from far away.
"They don't want to see it sitting there not getting looked after and they would like to find somebody that loves it," she said.
"People come there knowing it's lots of work, they come there knowing that it's a timber box essentially but it's got a history."
More than 100 years of history
The building has stood strong on the land for more than 100 years and was one of the earlier churches constructed as part of the Macleay Catholic Parish.
Sherwood residents fundraised to build a church in their remote community at the time with construction of the building beginning in 1909.
The church was later dedicated and opened by the then Bishop of Lismore John Carrol in 19 June 1910 although the building had been in use before that date with a social evening held to help liquidate the remaining debt.
The church was later closed in 2016 and eventually deconsecrated.
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Emily Walker
Reporter at Macleay Argus and Port Macquarie News.
Reporter at Macleay Argus and Port Macquarie News.
