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
That some of these parish churches in Virginia had interiors which were
richly furnished is evident from the description of the builder's work
on one of them, the frame "Poplar Spring Church," (1677), Gloucester
County. Father Time has unfortunately done away with this shrine, but we
do know that its walls and ceiling were lathed and plastered, and that
the chancel, fifteen feet long, was to be divided from the nave by a
wooden _rood screen_--a "Screen to be run Crosse the church," and to
have "ballisters."
In the medieval English church the rood screen is the name given to the
chancel or choir screen when it supported the "rood," a large cross. It
was customary to build such a screen in three parts: a base comprising
panelled walls as high as the pews, a middle section with a row of wood
balusters set closely together, and a top part of pierced woodwork--that
is, traceried work--and heavy cornice.
[Illustration: Elements of the Typical Medieval Church in Va.]
At "Poplar Spring Church" there were double pews built on each side of
the chancel abutting the rood screen. Also set against the rood screen
was another double pew, this one between the pulpit in the nave and the
screen. The rest of the pews in the church, on both sides of the aisle,
were double and had panelled backs. The pulpit itself was hexagonal and
a three-decker affair. There was a six-foot space permitted for the
reading desk, set eighteen inches above the floor, and for the passage
into the pulpit. Half way up were the minister's pew and desk. The
church was also the proud possessor of a flowered, crimson, velvet
pulpit cloth, a silver communion service, and a drawing of cherubim,
presumably upon the altarpiece.
Although it was customary to place wainscoted pews within the chancel,
the "Second Lynnhaven Church," of 1692, Princess Anne County, had also
in the chancel several benches, which were used by the parish poor.
That all seventeenth-century churches in the Old Dominion were not of
brick or wood is shown by the "Second York Church" (1697), now Grace
Church, Yorktown, which was constructed of native marl.
The Transitional Style of architecture, which, as we have seen, greatly
influenced rural dwellings from about 1680 to about 1730, is marked in
the Virginia church chiefly by the doorway designs. The earliest motif
of a brick doorway is that plain, round-arched one on the entrance to
the Jamestown Brick Church belfry. By 1700, brick doorways were becoming
transitional: a good example is that at "Ware Church" (perhaps 1715),
Gloucester County, which is flanked by brick pilasters and an arch
bounded by a shallow hood--the whole made up of rubbed or gauged brick.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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