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Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont » The Peninsulas » Gloucester County » Ware Parish Church

Ware Parish Church

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c. 1710–1715. 1827, 1854, 1902, 1930. VA 3 and VA 14 (1.2 miles north of Gloucester)
  • Ware Parish Church (Virginia Division of Historic Resources)

This is the only surviving rectangular church in Virginia that still retains three entrances. The scale is impressive—80 feet, 9 inches on the long side and 40 feet, 9 inches on the shorter. The main entrance, a round-arched opening articulated by a primitive archivolt, pierces the tall, blank brick wall of the west facade. Above is a small circular window. The north and south facades are six bays in length with the entrance doors at the fifth bay. The windows are roundheaded with gauged surrounds. The entrances have triangular pediments of gauged and rubbed brick. Like nearby Abingdon Church, Ware has exquisite Flemish bond brickwork. The rich red stretchers contrast with dark blue glazed headers that sparkle in sunlight. Abandoned at disestablishment, the church suffered. The Civil War and various modernization campaigns left their marks. Thus the interior is of only passing interest. The churchyard contains a number of colonial tombstones. Also of interest is the wall around the oldest part of the yard.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Gloucester County Courthouse
Walter Reed Birthplace
Abingdon Church
Rosewell
Methodist Lower Church (Lower Chapel)

Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Ware Parish Church", [Gloucester, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-PE35.

Print Source

Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont, Richard Guy Wilson and contributors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 344-344.

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