(St. Mark's) Irish IMMIGRANTS settled this area in the mid 1820s and in 1844 they built their first little church, dedicated to St. Mark. Here the priest would celebrate Mass three or four times a year. In 1879 the parishioners erected a new and much larger church, the present one, and around the same time a neat and practical rector}' which still stands beside the church. Parish priests lived in this rectory from 1909 until the early 1990s. At other times their pastor usually lived at Alberton , as he does today, with responsibility for both parishes. St. Bernadette's, In 1902 a new hall was erected to round out the usual arrangement of parish buildings. This hall was a project of the St. Mark's branch of the C.M.B.A . which was active across the diocese at that time. Around 1915 diocesan authorities extended the parish boundaries to the north which made necessary the building of wings to the church for extra seating. Down in that northern end of the parish at Brockton the parishioners in 1929 built the mission church, dedicated to St. Bernadette. The Bloomfield Station corner of the parish was once a thriving little centre due mainly to the railway and its station. Three stores and other shops operated there, but now like the railway itself they are gone. The name Burton is considered to be a short form of Haliburton , a district within the parish. Approximately 120 families comprise the paiish today, with farming and fishing among the various occupations of the people. The scenery on the west side of St. Mark's Parish is one of the finest on the Island with the fertile waters of Northumberland . * * Strait lapping its edges. Sunsets there are truly extraordinary. 48 Our Parishes