Historic Christ Church-Roof

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Christ Church has a hipped roof with an unusually steep pitch and a sharp splay at the eaves. With the high brick walls, the roof gives the building an imposing vertical effect.

The present roof is made of slate and dates to 1897. It is the third roof known to have been put on the church. The original roof was wood shingle. In 1837, about one hundred years after the church was completed, this roof was still on the building. Bishop Meade observed then that “the original roof and shingles now cover the house, and have preserved in a state of perfection the beautiful arched ceilings, except in two places which have within a few years been a little discolored by the rain, which found its way through the gutters where shingles have decayed.”

Meade noted, however, the parish had made plans to repair the roof and other elements of the church in need of restoration:

This view of the north door in 1884 shows Christ Church with a wood shingle roof, the second such roof on the building, installed around 1837-38. Notice the overall poor condition of the church and churchyard: the woodwork in the doors and entablature is extremely dirty, there is no glass in most of the windows, the Carter tombs are in pieces on the east (or left) side of the church, and the churchyard is overgrown with brush.

“It is pleasing to know that a considerable sum of money has been subscribed for repairing the roof, which requires a new covering, and for improving the interior of this remarkable building.” Though he felt “but for the failure of the gutters” repairing the roof “would have been unnecessary,” Meade could report in 1857 that a new roof had been installed. He added that the shingles from the first roof were so good they were sold to locals and would “probably now last longer than many new ones just gotten from the woods.” Vestryman William Kelley and his brother James donated money and helped supervise this work.

By the late nineteenth century, this second shingle roof had begun to deteriorate. In 1897, the vestry of Christ Church Parish oversaw installation of a new slate roof. The work was part of a larger preservation initiative that included painting all exterior wood work, reglazing the windows and covering them with wire screens, repairing the doors, and enclosing the churchyard with a wire fence. The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities donated $500 towards the work, some $390 of which went to install the slate roof.

This view of the west door shows the slate roof installed on Christ Church in 1897. Notice the dramatic splay at the eaves. The massive brick walls combine with the steep, hipped roof to give the building a powerful, vertical presence. Constructed in a time when most colonists dwelt in simple, wooden, earthfast structures, Christ Church was an imposing figure in the Virginia landscape and probably the largest building many in Lancaster County saw their entire lives.