Though Historic Places Canada reports that the first Christ Church Anglican was built in 1790, there is an indication that it was built prior to that as a black pioneer of the town, one Hannah Lining was reported to have been baptized in the church in 1786. The sign on the front of the building reads 1786, possibly the year of construction of that first church. In any event that church was the victim of a wind storm, possibly the "Great Storm of 1811" which occurred on September 30, 1811.
That church was replaced forthwith, the second church remaining in service until the construction of the present building in 1877-78. No longer able to support regular services, the church is still used for weddings and funerals. The church hosts at least one regular service annually, the annual Heritage Service.
In the churchyard is the Anglican cemetery, with headstones widely scattered and large expanses of seemingly empty areas. In the cemetery, though, are three plaques listing all the interments that have taken place in the cemetery, several hundred of them. We must take this to mean that the vast majority of burials in the cemetery no longer have markers of any kind. The earliest burial was that of baby Ann Farfer, who died July 19, 1787 at the age of 16 days. the most recent burial listed on the plaques was in 1938, that of Frank Merrick, who passed away April 11 at the age of 82.
Christ Church Anglican
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
Christ Church is a small white church at the corner of Church and Pleasant Streets in Guysborough, beside the village's oldest cemetery and the community's Cenotaph. This municipal designation covers the church and surrounding land.
HERITAGE VALUE
Christ Church is the third of that name on this site. The first was built in 1790, and was visited by Bishop Charles Inglis in 1797. It blew down in 1811, and was replaced at once by the second Christ Church. The current church, erected between 1877-78, is valued for its Gothic architecture and its continued role for the Anglican community for whom it still serves as a place of worship.
There are no longer regular services, but Christ Church still serves for weddings and funerals, and for an annual Heritage Service. The adjoining cemetery has the graves of Guysborough's eighteenth-century pioneers including the first clergyman, Rev. Peter de la Roche, who ministered in English, German and French to settlers of all religious backgrounds. Also buried on the property are most of Guysborough's founding fathers, including Thomas (King) Cutler, Col. Joseph Marshall, Patrick Patton, Robert Hartshorne, and others.
Christ Church displays many elements common to churches of its age in Nova Scotia, combining both Classical and Gothic elements in its clapboard exterior elements and structure. It has a symmetrical facade with a central entrance and symmetrical windows. A square-sided frontispiece rises to a bell tower and a modest steeple. A large stained glass triptych window adorns the rear façade of the chancel.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
- the chancel with a stained glass rear window;
- Classical elements, including the symmetry and balance in shape, form and placement of windows; three-bay façade with central, double-door entry in front-facing gable end; prominent pilasters as cornerboards;
- Gothic elements, including the symmetrical windows and window vents, central Gothic-arched entrance door and steeply-pitched roof;
- frontispiece rising through pediments and the roofline to square bell-tower topped with steeple;
- stacked rock foundation with cut granite top;
- the cemetery next to the church.
From Historic Places Canada