Description of Historic Place
All Saints Anglican Church is located in Rossway, Digby County, on a small hill surrounded by a burial ground overlooking the highway leading from Digby to Sandy Cove. Built in 1845, All Saints is a combination of Colonial American meeting house and 18th century British Classicism style church, and is the first and oldest church still standing on Digby Neck. The building and property are included in the provincial designation.
All Saints Anglican Church is valued as the first and oldest church still standing on Digby Neck and for its strong association with Reverend William Bullock, as it is one of several churches erected in the county during his Rectorship (1840-1848).
Rev. William Bullock was ordained deacon and priest in 1822 and after a brief period in St. John's, Newfoundland, Bullock arrived in Digby in 1841. Over the next six years he established numerous preaching stations and churches, including All Saints, which was built in 1845. In 1847 Bullock went to Halifax and was appointed by Bishop John Inglis Curate of St. Paul's Cathedral and later rector of St. Luke's Chapel. When the church was made the cathedral church of the diocese, he was named as its first dean. Bullock also published a collection of hymns in 1854; the best-known of these "We Love the Place O God," which was added to the official hymn book of the Church of England. Many early residents of Rossway are buried on the grounds surrounding this church, as evidenced by gravemarkers dated as early as 1818.
All Saints Anglican church is also valued for its architecture as it is an excellent example, in rural Nova Scotia, of the combination of Colonial American meeting house style (in its form and massing) and 18th century British Classicism style architecture (in its spire and interior detailing). As well, All Saints windows are characterisitc of its Gothic Revival style.
Source: Provincial Heritage Property Files, no. 133, Heritage Division, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, NS.
Exterior character-defining elements of All Saints Anglican Church relating to its combination of American meeting house and 18th century British Classicism style include:
- gabled roof;
- square bell tower;
- square-headed windows on the front elevation;
- remains of a closed in Palladian window on the rear elevation;
- simple, shingled spire;
- the rear elevation is shingled;
- clad in clapboarding.
Interior character-defining elements of All Saints Anglican Church relating to its combination of American meeting house and 18th century British Classicism style:
- interior walls and ceiling covered in wood finish;
- original plaster-covered ceiling which can be observed from the attic;
- the original gallery, running along the rear of the church interior, still clearly visible though it has been enclosed;
- octogonal piers support the roof of the gallery;
- Palladian window outline indicated by wide mouldings behind the chancel area;
- double doors leading to the main body of the church displaying interesting hardware.
Character-defining elements of All Saints Anglican Church relating to its Gothic Revival style:
- pointed Gothic Revival windows on the side elevations indicate later renovations (ca. mid or late 19th c.)