Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Weather Cock on a Steeple

I post another in a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in New Hampshire.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #384?  Scroll down to find the answer.

This weathercock was photographed above the First Parish Church in Dover, New Hampshire.  It is the oldest parish in New Hampshire, first gathered in 1633.  It was the original meetinghouse for the Puritan families in Dover, and the first building was erected on Dover Point in 1634.  The second building was on Dover Point Road in 1654, on a plot of land still owned by the church and marked by a plaque.

This building is the fifth structure built by the congregation.  It was erected in 1829. The current church was built by James Davis, a local joiner, based on St. John's church in Portsmouth, which was based on churches built by Charles Bullfinch.  According to Wikipedia, the steeple was based on a church located in Newburyport, Massachusetts.  This church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The weathercock is an old symbol used on many Christian churches, starting in Europe in the middle ages.  Some of the oldest churches in New England have used the weathercock on their steeples.  It symbolizes the biblical rooster that crowed when Peter denied knowing Jesus.  The rooster was added to this steeple soon after the church was built.  It is five feet tall, gilded copper, and made by William Gerrish of Dover.

A 1960 sketch of the First Parish Church

First Parish Church, Dover, New Hampshire   https://www.firstparishdover.org/ 

The full text of "The First Parish in Dover, New Hampshire", a history of the church written in 1883 for the 250th anniversary, is available online at this link:   https://archive.org/stream/firstparishindov00dove/firstparishindov00dove_djvu.txt 

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Weather Cock on a Steeple", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 10, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/10/weathervane-wednesday-weather-cock-on.html: accessed [access date]).