Old Brick Church (Bacon's Castle, Virginia)
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Old Brick Church (Lower Church, Southwark Parish) variously known as the Lawnes Creek Parish Church or the Lower Surry Church is a historic church in
Bacon's Castle Bacon's Castle, also variously known as "Allen's Brick House" or the "Arthur Allen House" is located in Surry County, Virginia, United States, and is the oldest documented brick dwelling in what is now the United States. Built in 1665, it is no ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. The lower chapel of the Southwark Parish was a brick rectangular room church built in 1754 about a mile northwest of Bacon's Castle, in
Surry County, Virginia Surry County is a county (United States), county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 6,561. In 1652, Surry County was formed from the portion of James City County, Virginia, Jame ...
. Its brick walls are irregularly laid in
Flemish bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks ...
and
English bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by si ...
with a few glazed headers. The church remained abandoned from the Disestablishment of the Church of England in America until 1847. It was destroyed by a fire, reputedly set by recently freed slaves following the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
in 1868, but its thick brick walls remained standing. Its ruins were added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1986. The Old Brick Church was typical of the Virginia vernacular churches of the colonial period. Prior to its destruction it probably resembled other surviving 18th century brick rectangular room churches in Virginia such as the circa-1743
Merchant's Hope Merchant's Hope was the name of a plantation and church established in the Virginia Colony in the 17th century. It was also the name of an English sailing ship, ''Merchant's Hope'', which plied the Atlantic bringing emigrants to Virginia in the ea ...
Church in
Prince George County Prince George County is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 43,010. Its county seat is Prince George, Virginia ...
and the
Ware Parish Church Ware Parish Church is a historic Episcopal church located near Gloucester in Gloucester County, Virginia. One of the oldest surviving parish churches in the Commonwealth, Ware is the only one to retain its original three entrances. Ware Parish i ...
in
Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
. Its walls were fairly well preserved until 2003, when a large oak tree in the churchyard was uprooted by high winds during
Hurricane Isabel Hurricane Isabel was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Mitch, and the deadliest, costliest, and most intense hurricane in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Isabel was also the strongest hurricane in the open waters of the Atlanti ...
and fell on the ruins of the church, collapsing large portions of its walls. The ruins have since been stabilized, and many of the original bricks were saved. There are plans to reconstruct the walls and restore the church to its colonial appearance. According to local folklore going back more than a century, the ruins of the Old Brick Church are said to be haunted. Many credible people young and old over several generations claim to have seen the flying fireball. Those who have seen it describe it as simply a ball of fire. It rises from the church cemetery into the air about forty feet and slowly drifts across the broad fields towards Bacon's Castle. A former owner of the plantation saw the fireball out of his window and rushed outside thinking his barn was ablaze. Another person staying at the 17th-century Jacobean mansion woke up to find the ball circling his bed before flying back out the window. Many years ago a church meeting was being held outside in the graveyard and everyone in attendance claimed to have seen the ball of fire. Tablet in wall of Old Brick Church (Bacon's Castle, Virginia).JPG, Old Brick Church, VA 10 Bacon Old Brick Church (Bacon's Castle, Virginia) 2014.JPG, Old Brick Church, VA 10 Bacon Doorway of Old Brick Church (Bacon's Castle, Virginia).JPG, Old Brick Church, VA 10 Bacon


References

Churches in Virginia Ruins on the National Register of Historic Places Churches completed in 1754 Buildings and structures in Surry County, Virginia Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Surry County, Virginia 1754 establishments in Virginia 18th-century Episcopal church buildings Brick buildings and structures {{Virginia-church-stub