Bruton Parish Church
Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two previous parishes in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Episcopal parish. The building, constructed 1711–15, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as a well-preserved early example of colonial religious architecture.
History
The roots of Bruton Parish Church trace back to both the Church of England and the new settlement of the Colony of Virginia at Jamestown in the early 17th century. The role of the church and its relationship to the government had been established by King Henry VIII some years earlier. The same relationship was established in the new colony.1607: the Church of England in the new Virginia Colony
When the English colony was established at Jamestown on May 14, 1607, the conduct of worship and the building of a primitive chapel were given priority even as the first fort was built. The Reverend Robert Hunt served as the first chaplain. He had been the chaplain appointed to serve as spiritual leader of the three-ship expedition headed by Christopher Newport, and he lit the candle for the Anglican Church in Virginia a few weeks earlier when he first lifted his voice in public thanksgiving and prayer on April 29, as the settlers made what has come to be known as their "First Landing" near the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. He also was the one to plant the cross at Cape Henry.Captain John Smith described the Reverend Mr Hunt as our honest, religious and courageous divine. In his role as religious leader, he was a peacemaker, often bringing harmony to a quarreling group of men. Hunt was among those who did not survive that first year. After five very difficult years, during which the majority of the constant flow of colonists did not survive, the colony began to grow. As in England, the parish became a unit of local importance equal in power and practical aspects to other entities such as the courts and even the House of Burgesses.
The earlier settlements were along the major waterways, such as the James River and the York River. The expansion and subdivision of the church parishes and shires of Virginia after 1634 both followed this growth. Parishes needed to be close enough for travel to church for worship, an obligation everyone was expected to fulfil..
Growth of the Colony: 1632 Middle Plantation
The interior area of the Virginia Peninsula was not settled until a period beginning in the 1630s when a stockade was completed across the Peninsula between Archer's Hope Creek and Queen's Creek, each navigable to an opposing river.Dr John Potts figured prominently in the early development. In 1625, he was commissioned a member of the Governor's Council, on which he served for a number of years. In 1628 he was chosen Governor, and held the position from 1629 until the early part of 1630, when he was superseded by Sir John Harvey.
Dr Potts had a plantation which he called "Harrop", possibly named in honor of his ancestral home, Harrop, in Cheshire, England, where some of the Potts family resided at that period..
On July 12, 1632, Dr Potts obtained a patent for at the head of Archer's Hope Creek. Part of this land was to become the fortified palisade across the peninsula. Palisades, six miles in length, were run from creek to creek, and, on the ridge between, a settlement to be called Middle Plantation was made. Middle Plantation consisted of property owned by Colonel John Page. John Page was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and the Council of the Virginia Colony. A wealthy landowner, Page donated land and funds for the first brick Bruton Parish Church. Col. Page was a prime force behind the small community gaining the site for the College of William and Mary, Founded in 1693. He was also a chief proponent of the village and donated more land to create the village.
The Dr. Potts would have certainly recognized the sanitary advantages of the country around Middle Plantation. As the ridge between the creeks was remarkably well drained, there were few mosquitoes. The deep ravines penetrating from the north and south made the place of much strategic value. Also, the only practical road down the Peninsula was over this ridge, and this road was easily defended. At Middle Plantation, some years later, this road was later to be called Duke of Gloucester Street, and it would later form the dividing boundary line between portions of James City and York County for many years.
Middle Plantation becomes a town
Despite the favorable location, development of Middle Plantation as a residential and trade community did not immediately take place. The area was still on the edge of the frontier and subject to attacks by the Native Americans, who were being crowded out of their homeland by the ever-expanding colony. This was especially true prior to the second major conflict with the Powhatan Confederacy in 1644, after which a peace was established. Although the local Natives had basically been overwhelmed and subdued, conflicts continued further west with tribal groups other than the Powhatan.After 1644, the interior areas of the Peninsula such as that of Middle Plantation became more attractive for settlement. By the 1650s, Middle Plantation began to look both populated and wealthy, straddling the boundary between James City County and York County. Colonel John Page, a merchant who had emigrated from Middlesex, England with his wife Alice Luckin Page in 1650, was largely responsible for building Middle Plantation into a substantial town. In an era of wooden buildings, brick was a sign of both wealth and permanence. Page built a large, brick house in Middle Plantation and began encouraging the growth of the area. The Ludwell brothers also built a substantial brick home, even larger than that of Page. The houses that Page and the Ludwells built were among the finest in the colony. Another brick house was built nearby by the Pages' eldest son, Francis. By the third quarter of the 17th century, Middle Plantation must have looked like a place of importance.
Worship in Middle Plantation
In 1633, according to records, Middle Plantation Parish was established. It is known there was a wooden church by around 1660, but little else is known. In 1658, Middle Plantation Parish was united with Harrop Parish in James City County in 1658 to form Middletown Parish.Bruton Parish was formed in 1674 when Marston Parish in York County merged with Middletown Parish. The first vestrymen for Bruton Parish, named at its creation in 1674, were Col. Thomas Ballard Sr., Daniel Parke, Col. John Page, James Besouth, Robert Cobbs, James Bray, Capt. Philip Chesley and William Aylett.
The name of the parish comes from the town of Bruton, in the English county of Somerset, which was the ancestral home to several leading colonial figures, notably Virginia's colonial secretary Thomas Ludwell and the Ludwell family, as well as that of the Royal Governor, Sir William Berkeley. By this time, the Ludwells were living in Middle Plantation, and the idea of moving the capital there had been put forth unsuccessfully at least once. Bruton Parish was about square.
Colonel Page donated a plot of land about by and funds for building a brick church and for the surrounding churchyard in 1678. In return for his donation of land and funds towards the new church, Col. Page was allowed to have his family seated in a special pew at the front of the church in the chancel ahead of the congregation.
Other subscribers pledged additional funds. The construction contract was awarded in June 1681 and the building was complete by November 29, 1683. The first rector, the Reverend Rowland Jones, dedicated the structure on January 6, 1684 at the Epiphany.
Completed in 1683, the brick church, about by, rose to the north and west of the present church building and only a few steps northwest. The buried foundations remain.
Country parish changes its role
Conditions at Jamestown had made it problematic to serve as capital of the colony, and during the second half of the 17th century, sessions of the House of Burgesses and Governor's Council had periodically relocated to Middle Plantation, or longtime Governor Sir William Berkeley's Green Spring Plantation, both relatively nearby, and considered both safer and healthier locations than Jamestown Island. This and another situation combined to bring tiny Middle Plantation and Bruton Parish to prominence in the colony.In 1691, the House of Burgesses sent the Reverend James Blair, the colony's top religious leader and rector of Henrico Parish at Varina, to England to secure a charter to establish "a certain Place of Universal Study, a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and the good arts and sciences...to be supported and maintained, in all time coming." Blair journeyed to London and began a vigorous campaign. With support from his friends, Henry Compton, the Bishop of London, and John Tillotson, Blair was ultimately successful.
The College of William & Mary was founded on February 8, 1693, under a Royal Charter secured by Blair. Named in honor of the reigning monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II, the college was one of the original Colonial colleges. William & Mary was founded as an Anglican institution; governors were required to be members of the Church of England, and professors were required to declare adherence to the Thirty-Nine Articles.
The Reverend Mr Blair, who had been serving as Rector of Henrico Parish, was very aware of the fate of Henricus and the first attempt at a college there, both of which had been annihilated in the Indian massacre of 1622. The peaceful situation with the Native Americans and the high ground and central location in the developed portion of the colony at Middle Plantation must have appealed to him, for he is credited with selecting a site for the new college on the outskirt of the tiny community. Blair and the trustees of the College of William and Mary bought a parcel of from Thomas Ballard for the new school. The new school opened in temporary buildings in 1694. Properly called the "College Building", the first version of the Wren Building was built at Middle Plantation beginning on August 8, 1695 and occupied by 1700..
The State House at Jamestown burned again in 1698, and as it had in the past, the legislature again took up temporary quarters at Middle Plantation. On May 1, 1699, Blair and five students of the College of William and Mary appeared before the House of Burgesses to suggest that they designate Middle Plantation, as the new capital of Virginia, and a month later, the legislators agreed.
Following its designation as the Capital of the Colony, immediate provision was made for construction of a capitol building and for platting the new city according to the survey of Theodorick Bland. Bruton Parish Church held a prominent location in the new plan.
Thus, by 1699, Bruton Parish Church found itself located adjacent to both the new college and the new capital of the colony. During the colonial period, all those in public office were required to attend church. Government and College officials in the capital city of Williamsburg therefore would have attended Bruton Parish Church. The influx of students, the governor and his entourage, and the legislature, as well as townspeople overwhelmed the small church.
The church and Williamsburg were each central to the life and government of the colony, As the court church of colonial Virginia, Bruton Parish Church soon took on appropriate trappings such as an altar cloth and cushion.