While learning the Jamestowne and Shakespeare connection to The Tempest, we also saw progress on the Memorial Church’s restoration of the bell tower.
Some of the Colonial Williamsburg brickmakers are reconstructing the bell tower with the same bricks we recently saw fired a month ago.
1680 BELL TOWER HISTORY
Once upon a time, the Jamestowne settlement had a church of sticks, that eventually became one built of bricks.
In 1680, we know there was a church bell tower comprised of bricks…a time when Jamestowne was the capital of the British colony of Virginia until 1699.
While funding was sought in 1699 to repair the church and steeple, the church lasted until 1750 when a new church was built three miles away.
With the encroachment of forests, the church crumbled with time, leaving only the tower to attract visitors.
In 1893 the Association of the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) took on preservation of the tower and surrounding land, where today they oversee archaeology of the Jamestowne story.
For the 300th anniversary of Jamestown in 1907, the Memorial Church was built next to the bell tower.
Since no documentation of the appearance of the original church exists, the name, Memorial Church, begets a memory of what was once there.
2013 BELL TOWER RESTORATION REVEALS HISTORY
This year 2013 sees another restoration to the bell tower, due to falling mortar and crumbling bricks in the top three feet, some sections unattached.
The brickmakers of Colonial Williamsburg removed all the cement, from top to bottom.
In the process they revealed new information regarding floor thickness, evidence of previous fires, and evidence of previous reconstruction.
Although there has been no roof over the tower in centuries, that caused the decay of bricks.
Therefore, the preservation team is scheming clever ways to build a hidden roof to protect the bell tower from the elements. Stay tuned!
