Though seemingly impossible, the exterior of Trinity Anglican could actually be original. A wood framed church with a wood steeple/bell tower, under its faded and worn paint are original looking shiplap boards and shingles. Original siding is not terribly rare, but how long has it been since anyone has gone to the brouble to make diamond shingles? While admittedly the sanctuary, chancel and small hall at the rear have asphalt shingles, the steeple remains covered with diamond wood shingles. Most of the siding on the building is wood shingles, a small amount of them decorative diamond shingles. The blue painted wood slats on the belfry openings are even covered in small scalloped shingles.
The most outstanding feature of the church is its steeple. At the northwest corner of the building, facing Highway 103, the tower is the entrance, with Lancet shaped double wood doors unter a steeply pitched small portico roof. Above the doors are two lancet windows, one above the other, then the belfry, its bottom about even in height with the peak of the sanctuary's gable roof. Just below this point three sloped triangular sections transform the square tower into an octagonal belfry. Around the belfry Lancet vent openings alternate with Anglican crosses.
The real interest begins at this point. The spire consists of two steeply pitched roofs, one atop the other, each formed of four diamond shaped panels which come together to form the roof, covered in diamond shingles, all of which look very old.
Given that we have never before encountered a roof of this sort, it's rather difficult to describe, so we've provided lots of pix. At one time there were six churches in Nova Scotia which sported variations of this type of tower roof, which came to be known as
Rhineland helmets. They were all the work of a travelling Anglican priest,
Simon Thomas Gibbons an Inuit-European native of Newfoundland and Canada's first Inuit priest. Two were in Cape Breton, three in Parrsboro, the sixth here in Jordan Falls, built while Gibbons was stationed in nearby Lockeport. Of the six, four remain standing.
All windows in the building are tall, narrow Lancet windows without tracery. The last time the church was painted, which may have been several decades past, it was done in white black trim throughout. When the paint was new this would have been a sight to behold.
The Jordans
Shelburne County
The five communities which share this place name are located around Jordan Bay, between Lockeport and Shelburne, on the south shore of Nova Scotia. •nte Indian name was Esiktaweak, "oozing from dead water." Portuguese fishermen may have seen cultivation here by the Indians and named the place Ribera des Jardins,"river of gardens". The 1090 Loop Homen map of 1554 shows one of the bays in this area called Les Jardins, and from this the name, Jordan River probably evolved. Des Barres called the bay Port Buller, and about 1781 there was one settler at the head of the bay. Jordan Bay atul Jordan River were the names used by the government in land transactions as early as January, 1785. when eight army officers received grants of land at East Jordan. Joshua Watson and Nicholas Ogden also received grants there in 1784. The sites of Jordan Falls and Jordan Ferry were included in a vast tract of and which was granted in small lots to several hundred Loyalists in May. 1784. An Anglican chapel at Jordan Falls was opened on October 1, 1848. In 1884 it was moved to make room for a new church which was consecrated on March 7, 1889.
From the Nova Scotia Archives