Christ Church Guilford

	Christ Church Guilford
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Christ Church Guilford, September 2009
Location	North of Guilford at 6800 Oakland Mills Rd., Guilford, Maryland
Coordinates	39°11′4″N76°49′41″W / 39.18444°N 76.82806°W Coordinates: 39°11′4″N76°49′41″W / 39.18444°N 76.82806°W
Area	2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built	1809
Architectural style	Georgian
NRHP reference No.	78001469
Added to NRHP	January 30, 1978

Last updated January 09, 2023

The Christ Church Guilford, historically known as the "Old Brick Church," is an historic Episcopal church located about one mile from Guilford, now part of Columbia, in Howard County, Maryland. The small Georgian church was completed in 1809.^[2] It was constructed of handmade brick laid in English garden wall brick bond with unmarked joints.

The oldest artifact used by the church is a bible published in 1701 provided by Queen Anne.^[3] The original church was established in 1727 as Queen Caroline Parish Church. Trinity Church (Elkridge, Maryland), grew out of Christ Church.^[2] The structure replaced a ca1711 log frame building and is the second church building to be built on the 2-acre (0.81 ha) plot deeded to the parish in 1738 by Caleb Dorsey.^[4] It is the oldest church building still in use in Howard County.^[4]^[5]

Architecture

The brick church has a steep gabled roof and is laid in English garden wall brick bond. The structure, two bays wide and three bays deep, faces east with twin entrance doors in the north and south bays. Each bay is rectangular, surmounted by a Federal-style transom and reached by two stone steps. The nave windows are rectangular, holding twelve-over-twelve lites and, decorated with splayed brick flat arched lintels. The interior contains a gallery which extends around three sides of the church.^[6]

History

The Christ Church was funded by a parishioner poll tax on tobacco at Elkridge Landing, paying church and sheriff expenses. During the early 1800s the Episcopal Church in Maryland grew very slowly.^[2] The American Revolutionary War created tremendous conflicts within the Episcopal Church in the colonies. The clergy, who had been ordained in England, had taken an oath of allegiance to the king. This conflicted with their Oath of Fidelity required by the local assembly. Some clergy returned to England and others simply stopped preaching.^[7] After the end of the Revolutionary War the Church of England, the Episcopal Church's parent church, was disestablished as the state religion.^[4] Having lost its official government support, the church was low on funds, and few new churches were built.

In 1789, Anglican congregations in nine states adopted The Protestant Episcopal Church as their name and was formally separated from the Church of England. The American Episcopal church was incorporated as “the first Anglican Province outside the British Isles.” Churches that were built during the period of time after the founding of the American church were usually of an economical design. In 1809, the Christ Church was one of the first Episcopal churches constructed in the state after the Revolution.^[8] Judge Henry Ridgely oversaw the construction of the brick structure.^[3] The only architecturally sophisticated feature is the three-part window over the entrances. In the interior, the paneled gallery is a simple and direct interpretation of much larger churches built during the 18th century in major Episcopal cities like Philadelphia and London.^[2]

Pastors

The Reverend James MacGill was chosen in 1728 as Christ Church's first full-time rector. MacGill was a native of Perth, Scotland who served in the church for 50 years.,^[2] living in nearby Athol Manor. The Rev Thomas John Claggett was rector from 1781-1782; he became the first Bishop of Maryland in 1792, and was the first Episcopal bishop consecrated in America. In 1806 Rev Oliver Norris was appointed director. In 1830 Rev Billop was appointed rector.^[9]

Historical significance

The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.^[1]

Gallery

Christ Church Guilford Interior, September 2009
Christ Church Guilford Historic Marker, September 2009
February 2015

Related Research Articles

Thomas John Claggett was the first bishop of the newly formed American Episcopal Church, U.S.A. to be consecrated on American soil and the first bishop of the recently established (1780) Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

St. Barnabas Church, also known as St. Barnabas' Episcopal Church, Leeland, was built in Leeland, Maryland and was established in 1704 as the parish church of Queen Anne Parish which had been established that same year. Because of its location in one of the richest tobacco-producing regions in Colonial Maryland, the small church has been a cultural hub for southern Maryland from early colonial times, through the American Revolution, Civil War, and Reconstruction. The church holds some highly significant art and was the scene of a fiery anti-revolutionary showdown that was close to erupting in violence.

Christ Episcopal Church is an Episcopal congregation in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, part of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee. The church building and parish house, located at 302 West 3rd Street, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

St. James' Parish is a historic church located on Solomons Island Road in the hamlet of Tracys Landing, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States.

"St. John's Church", "St. John's Episcopal Church", or "St. John's Episcopal Church, Broad Creek", is a historic Episcopal church located at 9801 Livingston Road in Fort Washington, Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a rectangular Flemish bond brick structure with a bell hipped roof. The interior features a barrel vaulted ceiling with an intricate support system.

Christ Church, founded in 1705, is a historic Episcopal parish located at 61 East Main Street in Oyster Bay, New York. Several church buildings have occupied this site, including one that served as soldiers' barracks during the Revolutionary War.

St. Matthew's Church, also known as Addison Chapel, is a historic Episcopal church located at Seat Pleasant, Prince George's County, Maryland.

Trinity Church is a historic Episcopal church located at Elkridge, Howard County, Maryland. The post road site was also known as Waterloo, Pierceland, Jessop and Jessup throughout the years.

All Saints' Church is a historic Episcopal church located at 100 Lower Marlboro Road, in Sunderland, Calvert County, Maryland. All Saint's Parish was one of the thirty original Anglican parishes created in 1692 to encompass the Province of Maryland. In 1693 its first parish church, a log structure, was built on an acre of land called Kemp's Desire donated by Thomas Hillary. This log church was expanded in 1703-1704 and repaired at least 4 times before being replaced on top of the hill between MD routes 4, 262, and 2 by the present brick building.

Middleham Chapel is a historic Episcopal church located in Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland. It is a one-story, cruciform, Flemish bond brick structure with exposed fieldstone foundations. It was built in 1748, to replace an earlier frame or log structure believed to have been erected as early as 1684, as a Chapel of Ease of Christ Church Parish. The date of construction is worked into the brick on the front of the church.

All Hallows Church, also known as The Brick Church, is a historic church located at 3604 Solomon's Island Road, in Edgewater, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. Parish records date back to 1682, indicating that it existed prior to the Act of Establishment (1692) passed by the General Assembly of Maryland laying off the Province into 30 Anglican parishes.

Christ Episcopal Church and Cemetery is an historic Episcopal church and cemetery located at Cambridge, Dorchester County, Maryland U.S.A.

St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, also known as Green Hill Church, is a historic Episcopal church located near Quantico in Wicomico County, Maryland.

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church located in Earleville, Cecil County, Maryland.

St. Paul's Church is an historic Episcopal church located near the village of Fairlee, southwest of Chestertown, Kent County, Maryland. St. Paul's Church is one of the original thirty parishes created in 1692 by an Act of the General Assembly declaring the Church of England as the established religion of the Province of Maryland. The Georgian-styled building, completed in 1713, is the second-oldest Episcopal church on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, more commonly called Old St. Paul's Church today, is a historic Episcopal church located at 233 North Charles Street at the southeast corner with East Saratoga Street, in Baltimore, Maryland, near "Cathedral Hill" on the northern edge of the downtown central business district to the south and the Mount Vernon-Belevedere cultural/historic neighborhood to the north. It was founded in 1692 as the parish church for the "Patapsco Parish", one of the "original 30 parishes" of the old Church of England in colonial Maryland.

St. Paul's Church Rectory, located a block west of Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal rectory located on steep "Cathedral Hill" at the northeast corner of Cathedral Street and West Saratoga Streets in downtown Baltimore, Maryland, United States. In the rear of the old rectory is a small alley-like extension of West Pleasant Street and to the east behind the North Charles Street former residences and now commercial structures, is another small alley extension of Little Sharp Street.

Christ Church, also known as Christ Episcopal Church, is a Christian house of worship located on the corner of Church Street and Main Street in Newton, New Jersey. It is a parish overseen by the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The congregation first met on 28 December 1769 and was granted a charter by New Jersey's last Royal Governor William Franklin on behalf of Britain's King George III. Christ Church is the oldest church in Newton and the third oldest parish in the Diocese of Newark.

Christ Church Accokeek is an Anglican parish church and cemetery in Accokeek, Maryland. Founded in 1698 as a chapel of ease, the present brick structure dates to 1747 and the cemetery to 1775. In 2021, after decades of conflict with the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the congregation left the Episcopal Church and joined the Anglican Church in North America. The church is listed on the Maryland Historical Trust's Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.

References

1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
1 2 3 4 5 "Maryland Historical Trust". Christ Church Guilford, Howard County. Maryland Historical Trust. 2008-11-21.
1 2 Stein, Charles Francis (1972). Origin and History of Howard County Maryland (First ed.). Charles Francis Stein, Jr. p. 245.
1 2 3 "Old Brick". Christ Episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
↑ Ruth Besse (17 May 1985). "Traveling Back in time". The Washington Post.
↑ "National Register of Historic Places—Application" (PDF). United States Department of the Interior. December 1, 1976. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
↑ "A history of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington". History of the Diocese. Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
↑ Howard's Roads to the Past. Howard County Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee, 2001. 2001. p. 82.
↑ "Convention of Maryland". The Christian Journal, and Literary Register: 3. 1 January 1830.

This article incorporates public domain text from the United States government.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[nris-1] 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[mht-2] 1 2 3 4 5 "Maryland Historical Trust". Christ Church Guilford, Howard County. Maryland Historical Trust. 2008-11-21.

[Charles_Francis_Stein,_Jr-3] 1 2 Stein, Charles Francis (1972). Origin and History of Howard County Maryland (First ed.). Charles Francis Stein, Jr. p. 245.

[cec-4] 1 2 3 "Old Brick". Christ Episcopal Church. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.

[5] Ruth Besse (17 May 1985). "Traveling Back in time". The Washington Post.

[msa-6] "National Register of Historic Places—Application" (PDF). United States Department of the Interior. December 1, 1976. Retrieved 6 February 2012.

[7] "A history of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington". History of the Diocese. Episcopal Diocese of Washington. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2011.

[8] Howard's Roads to the Past. Howard County Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee, 2001. 2001. p. 82.

[9] "Convention of Maryland". The Christian Journal, and Literary Register: 3. 1 January 1830.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore County Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's Somerset St. Mary's Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester
Lists by city	Baltimore: (Central North and Northwest West and Southwest East and Northeast South and Southeast)
Other lists	Bridges National Historic Landmarks
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Portal:National Register of Historic Places