Holy Cross Parish – Egremont/Sandhills

Known as Sandhills Church, the Holy Cross Ukrainian Catholic Church is located near Egremont and was designated a Registered Historic Site in 2004 and a Municipal Historic Resource in 2015. Built in the Byzantine tradition, it was designed to serve the liturgical needs of a prairie Ukrainian Catholic community.

The church is especially notable for its architecture, with corner towers, domes, and a cruciform layout that leads the eye toward the altar and upward into the dome. The interior was designed to create a sense of devotion and spiritual beauty, with painted skies, clouds, and colourful windows adding to the sacred atmosphere.

The church also has strong historical significance in the surrounding rural area. The original church was established around 1917, and in 1939 the congregation moved it so a new church could be built on the same site. That earlier church continued to serve the community for many years before being sold and later destroyed by fire. Today, the site remains an important and active landmark with more than a century of community history.