St. Peter's Church, St. George's
Their Majesties Chappell, St. Peter's Church, in
History
The church was established immediately after the founding of the settlement, although the original building, fashioned from wood with a
2012 marks the 400th year since the founding of St. Peter's Church. It was also the
The interior
The church's interior is simple, with exposed cedar beams (prior to the blight which virtually annihilated Bermuda's cedars in the 1940s and '50s, the wood was considered inexpensive and those who could afford to favoured more expensive, imported woods. Today, the endemic wood is scarce, priceless, and proudly displayed in those homes which have it). The font of the church is 500 years old, older than the settlement of Bermuda. The walls of the church have commemorative plaques on the inside, and there are gravestones set in the outsides, those of the notables who were considered worthy enough to be buried under the church floor, such as the printer of Bermuda's first newspaper (The Bermuda Gazette), Joseph Stockdale, and Governor George James Bruere, who died in office in 1780.
The exterior
The graveyard which surrounds the church has been filled for decades, all new burials taking place in the municipal graveyard on the far shore to the north of the town. Notable exceptions were Governor Sir
As originally constructed, the church had no belfry, the bell being hung from an old-growth cedar directly behind the church. Although to all appearances dead, this tree was still standing until felled by Hurricane Fabian in 2003.
The south-facing church and its yard sit well back, and somewhat higher than Duke of York Street, the main road that passes through St. George's in front of it. A high, wide flight of steps descend from the church to a small yard, or square, on the north side of the road. At this east side of this yard is the church hall, a small building which was increased in size by the addition of a second floor in the 1980s.
Parish
The church was established as the parish (for the town and the surrounding area) of the
Burials
- Ann Willing Bingham (1764 – 1801) - American socialite
- George James Bruere (1720/21 – 1780) - Governor of Bermuda
- Sir Peter Parker, 2nd Baronet (1785 - 1814) - English naval officer,
- Sir Richard Sharples (1916 – 1973) - British politician and Governor of Bermuda
- Joseph Stockdale (unknown - 1803) - Bermuda's first newspaper publisher[8]
References
- ^ Gehrman, Elizabeth (14 September 2008). "Hollywood Brent and the case of the curious church graves". Boston Globe. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
- ^ Official site History page
- ^ UNESCO Entry on World Heritage Site of St. George's & Related Fortifications
- ^ "St Peter's Church Description". PlanetWare. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- ^ "Entitlement to an intitulation | The Royal Gazette:Bermuda Weekender". The Royal Gazette. 17 March 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ^ Bermuda Online Bermuda's Town of St. George: St. Peter's Church
- ^ Bermuda Online Bermuda's Town of St. George: The Unfinished Church
- ^ "St. Peter's Church - St. George's, Bermuda". Retrieved 23 April 2023.
External links
- Official site
- The Anglican Church of Bermuda Official site
- Bermuda Online Bermuda's Town of St. George: St. Peter's Church.