First Denbigh Parish Church Archeological Site | |
Nearest city | Newport News, Virginia |
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Coordinates | 37°05′36.8388″N76°32′35.9373″W / 37.093566333°N 76.543315917°W |
Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
NRHP reference No. | 82004574 [1] |
VLR No. | 121-0037 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 7, 1982 |
Designated VLR | September 15, 1981 [2] |
First Denbigh Parish Church Archeological Site is a historic archaeological site located at Newport News, Virginia. The site is located on the bluff overlooking the Warwick River at the mouth of Church Creek. It took its name from nearby Denbigh Plantation and was constructed in 1636.
The earliest dated documentary reference to the existence of the first Denbigh Parish Church occurs in the 1635 patent of the Reverend Thomas Butler, who was "Clark and Pastor of Denbigh." Anthony Yonge of London, who made his will on February 20, 1636, bequeathed 500 pounds of tobacco to Denbigh Church. [3] At that time, Denbigh was one of three parishes in Warwick County, Virginia, a political jurisdiction which was established by law in 1634. As Warwick County's other parishes, Stanley Hundred (on Mulberry Island) and Nutmeg Quarter are known to have been established by the 1620s, Denbigh Parish may also been established around the same time. [4] It is likely that the original site may have been granted by Abraham Piersey or Captain Samuel Matthews land holdings at Denbigh Plantation, with the manor house less than 1/3 mile away. [5]
In 1656 Nutmeg Quarter Parish was joined with Denbigh Parish at the request of the former's parishioners, who "initiated their desire by reason of their small number no longer to continue a parish...but to be united to the parish of Denbigh." The Nutmeg Quarter Church became a chapel of ease for Denbigh Parish, a reference point in later land patents. [4]
In modern times, the original site, known as the first Denbigh Parish Church, is located on private property at 18 Walters Road. During a 1981 archaeological survey of the original site, charred timbers found suggests that the first church may have been destroyed by fire, necessitating the construction of a new building. [4]
The site of the first Denbigh Parish Church nearer the river was abandoned permanently around 1686. Eighteenth and nineteenth century cartographers depicted the area as undeveloped woods and farmland, a condition in which it remained until the 1970s when the Shenks constructed their modern residence near the original church site. [4]
A new structure no larger than the first (known as the second Denbigh Parish Church) was built by 1686 about 2 miles WNW from the original site, reflecting shifting population densities.
A third frame structure for Warwick Parish (known as the third Denbigh Parish Church) was rebuilt on the later site about 1774. The second church site and third church building were visited by Bishop William Meade in 1854. He lists some of the earlier ministers in his chronicles: [6]
The Anglican Church (Church of England), which had been the state-established church in Virginia since 1609, waned dramatically after the end of the American Revolution in 1783. Congregations generally withered away or reorganized under other denominations. (The Anglican church in America itself reorganized as 'Episcopal' in 1789, without affiliation to the English crown.) Bishop Meade acknowledges the use by 'other denominations' in his 1854 visit chronicles. The church histories of the early Grafton Baptist Church [7] and Denbigh Baptist Church corroborate a Mr. Matthew Wood leaving the former around 1796 to serve the later congregation in Denbigh, which suggests a 1796 date for initial Baptist use, which would be logically supported by Virginia's 1786 Statue of Religious Freedom and 1802 Glebe Act around that same time. [8] [9] Baptists are firmly documented to have been on the site by 1834. [5] [4] The site would also be overlappingly referred to as "Tenderbranch" from 1774 to 1833 (referring to the tender of the colonial-era gristmill 1/3 mile away, later known as Young's Mill), [10] [11] and "Warwick Church" from 1810 to 1881. In modern times, this later site is known as Denbigh Baptist Church and is located at 13010 Mitchell Point Road, where the current historical marker is erected.
The sites were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. [1]
York County is a county in the eastern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in the Tidewater. As of the 2020 census, the population was 70,045. The county seat is the unincorporated town of Yorktown.
William Meade was an American Episcopal bishop, the third Bishop of Virginia.
Warwick County was a county in Southeast Virginia that was created from Warwick River Shire, one of eight created in the Virginia Colony in 1634. It became the City of Newport News on July 16, 1952. Located on the Virginia Peninsula on the northern bank of the James River between Hampton Roads and Jamestown, the area consisted primarily of farms and small unincorporated villages until the arrival of the Peninsula Extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1881 and development led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington.
Warwick River Shire was one of eight shires created in colonial Virginia in 1634. It was located on the Virginia Peninsula on the northern shore of the James River between Hampton Roads and the Jamestown Settlement.
Denbigh is a community in Newport News, Virginia. It was previously the County Seat of Warwick County, Virginia until the county became the independent city of Warwick, Virginia in 1952. Warwick and Newport News merged in 1958 to form the present-day city of Newport News.
St. John's Church is an Episcopal church located at 2401 East Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Formed from several earlier parishes, St. John's is the oldest church in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1741 by William Randolph's son, Colonel Richard Randolph; the Church Hill district was named for it. It was the site of two important conventions in the period leading to the American Revolutionary War, and is famous as the location where American Founding Father Patrick Henry gave his memorable speech at the Second Virginia Convention, closing with the often-quoted demand, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" The church is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Richneck Plantation was a property in colonial Virginia, located on the Virginia Peninsula on the northern shore of the James River between Hampton Roads and Jamestown. The Richneck manor house's foundation was discovered during construction of the George J. McIntosh elementary school, and became an archeological dig, then listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
St. Luke's Church, also known as Old Brick Church, or Newport Parish Church, is a historic church building, located in the unincorporated community of Benns Church, near Smithfield in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, United States. It is the oldest church in Virginia and oldest church in British North America of brick construction. According to local tradition the structure was built in 1632, but other evidence points to a date of 1682; see Dating controversy.
Captain Samuel Mathews was a Virginia planter, political figure, and the father of Governor Samuel Mathews. Also known as Colonel Mathews, the elder Samuel became one of the most prominent men in the colony.
Lt. Col. Samuel Mathews (1630–1660), Commonwealth Governor of Virginia, of Warwick County in the English Colony of Virginia, was a member of the House of Burgesses, the Governor's Council, and served as Commonwealth Governor of Virginia from 1656 until he died in office in January 1660. There was no Royal Governorship at the time of the "Protectorate", and the Governor technically answered to the Cromwellian Parliament, although Royalist sentiment was prevalent in the colony of Virginia at this time. The former Royalist governor Berkeley arrived to replace him on March 13, 1660.
Hidenwood is a neighborhood in the independent city of Newport News, Virginia which is located off Warwick Boulevard just west of the campus of Christopher Newport University (CNU).
Captain Thomas Harwood emigrated from Britain and became a soldier, landowner and politician in the Colony of Virginia. He founded a family which like him for generations often represented the area now known as Newport News, but which in his day was known as Mulberry Island, and later Warwick River and still later Warwick County. Despite coming into conflict with royal governor Sir John Harvey in 1635, and a gap in legislative service, Harwood became the 5th speaker of the House of Burgesses.
Christ Church Glendower is the oldest of the historic Episcopal church buildings in St. Anne's Parish, Albemarle County, Virginia near Scottsville. Christ Church Glendower is located in Keene, built of brick in 1831 in the Roman Revival style. It features a full Doric order entablature with pediments at each end containing lunette windows, and is surrounded by a contributing cemetery. The remaining two historic churches in St. Anne's parish are also discussed below.
Old Chapel is a historic Episcopal church building located near Millwood, Clarke County, Virginia. Old Chapel is now the oldest Episcopal church building still in use west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 2014, the Chapel Rural Historic District was recognized, and which encompasses both Cunningham parish churches, discussed below, as well as approximately 700 other structures and an area of nearly 10,500 acres.
Denbigh Plantation, also known as Mathews Manor, is a historic archaeological site located at Newport News, Virginia.
The Polegreen Church, also known as the Hanover Meeting House, is the site of what may be the first non-Anglican church in Virginia. It was named after a 17th-century landowner, George Polegreen.
The First Baptist Church is a historic church building, now housing the non-denominational Dominion Outreach Worship Center, at 119 29th Street in Newport News, Virginia. Built in 1902, the church is a prominent local example of Romanesque Revival architecture executed in stone. It was designed by R.H. Hunt of Chattanooga. It is fronted by a three-arch recessed porch, flanked by a tower on the left whose upper stages have rounded corners, and is capped by a pyramidal roof with conical turrets at the corners.
John Smith was a founding settler of Providence in what would become the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Smith joined Roger Williams at the Seekonk River in 1636 after both were expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the spring they crossed the river to found Providence where Smith later built and operated the town's gristmill.
William Digges was a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia, who represented Warwick County, Virginia in the House of Burgesses from 1752 until 1771.
Stanley Hundred is the name given by Sir George Yeardley around 1626 to the plantation in what would later be part of Warwick River Shire. The name was also used to refer to the corresponding colonial parish in the same area.