090-0034 The Old Brick Church

For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF

VLR Listing Date 09/16/1982

NRHP Listing Date 01/02/1986

NRHP Reference Number 86000002

The walls of these romantic ruins date from 1754 when the Anglican Southwark Parish vestry completed a brick church to serve the lower part of the parish. The Surry County church fell into a long period of disuse after the Revolutionary War, but other denominations occasionally held services here. Episcopalians established a mission at the church in 1847 but were forced by the other groups using the building to erect their own church nearby. Before it was gutted by fire in 1868, Lower Church followed the format of the standard colonial rectangular church, with a single doorway on the west end and five bays on either side, including a side entrance. The surviving walls retain evidence of the location of many of the building’s original fittings. The ruins are owned and maintained by the Bacon’s Castle Cemetery Association.

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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark

Updated: May 17, 2021