Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century — John Shaqi
Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth CenturyForman, Henry Chandlee
History
Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century
Forman, Henry Chandlee
Architecture -- Virginia -- History -- 17th century; Architecture, Colonial -- Virginia
1. The "cruck" church of 1607, the first substantial church, which,
according to Smith, was covered by rushes, boards, and earth.
2. The timber-framed church of 1610, of Lord Delaware, sixty feet
by twenty-four in size, where took place in 1614 the marriage of the
Indian princess, Pocahontas, and John Rolfe. This edifice had
casements on hinges and, at the west end, two bells.
3. Argall's frame church of 1617, fifty feet by twenty, which by
1623 may have been the structure possessing a latticed gallery for
ladies, and which needed repairs in 1624.
In connection with this 1617 church, may we digress a moment to mention
some contemporary churches outside Jamestown? We have already cited the
puncheoned church (c. 1623) on the Eastern Shore. Then there was the
Elizabeth City church of 1624, timber-framed, laid upon cobblestone
footings, and paved with square tiles; and the wood Hog Island Church of
1628, which measured on the inside twenty by forty feet and which
probably had a small tower at the west end. That must have been a tower,
because it was not the custom to place a porch at the west end in
seventeenth-century Virginia--at least, as far as present research has
disclosed. The tower was eight feet wide, but projected only three feet
out--big enough, perhaps, to support two or three bells.
To continue the chronology of the Jamestown churches:
4. A wood church, spoken of as "new" in 1636, located next the
Reverend Hampton's land, and of which he was the minister. The
brick-and-cobblestone footings inside the Brick Church of 1647 at
Jamestown may very well have belonged to this "new" wooden church;
but they never belonged to Argall's Church, which was located within
James Fort, situated half a mile down the James River, near Orchard
Run, Jamestown Island.
5. The Brick Church of 1647, of which the original bell tower and
foundation are extant.
[Illustration: Brick Church of 1647 at Jamestown
After a Foundation Plan in "Jamestown and St. Mary's"]
The tower of this Brick Church at Jamestown is of fine old "English"
bonded brickwork, with a belt course of Flemish bond. It was built
separate from the main body of the church, but was connected to it at
the jambs and tops of the interconnecting doorways--as the floor plan
shows. The great walls of the belfry are three feet thick, and the roof
was probably battlemented or crenellated.
The main entrance doorway in the tower has a plain, round-headed brick
arch, the earliest form of brick church door in the Old Dominion.
In 1907 the main body of the church was reconstructed for the
Tercentenary Celebration. It is a single nave and possesses some
interesting medieval features: buttresses; pointed and mullioned
windows; gables of crow-steps or "tabled offsets"; and a raised tile
chancel floor.
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