Biggin Church Ruins

The Biggin Church Ruins are the ruins of a church in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Biggins Church is its name in the USGS Geographic Names Information System. The ruins are about 2mi from Moncks Corner, South Carolina, near the intersection of South Carolina Highway 402 and State Highway 8-376. The church has been burned three times since it was first constructed in about 1711. It was the church of the parish of St. John's, Berkeley. The ruins are from the church built in 1761 and its reconstruction in 1781. It was included in the National Register of Historic Places on December 13, 1977.HistoryThe site for the church, Biggin Hill, is probably named for Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley. The Parish of St. John's, Berkeley was created in the South Carolina Assembly Act of 1704 and the Church Act of 1706. St. John's, Berkeley had the largest area of the original ten parishes of the Province. These parishes served both religious and civil functions in the colony. The land for the church was donated by the Landgrave John Colleton.The first church was built around 1711 to replace a wooden building that had been used for religious services. This church burned in a forest fire around 1755.The church was replaced with a new building in 1761. In this period, parishioners included Henry Laurens and William Moultrie. During the Revolutionary War, British troops used the church as a depot. As they retreated, the church and stores were burned in 1781. The church was rebuilt.