used in leaded sash were found, so we must assume 

 that the 1665 courthouse was built elsewhere. 



CONCLUSION 



It may be assumed that the Potomac Creek court- 

 house, which was built of brick, resembled the 

 courthouses of Hanover, King William, and Charles 

 City, and that its architecture, symbolizing the 

 authority of Virginia's government, reflected the 

 official style expressed in the government buildings at 

 W'illiamsburg. All the successive Stafford courthouses 

 from 1 722 on probably were built on the old founda- 

 tions; if so, the Stafford building was the earliest T- 

 form courthouse yet known in Virginia. Its similarity 



to the three structures built in the 1 730's shows that 

 an accepted form had developed, possibly, as W'hiffen 

 suggests, deriving from a prototype in Williamsburg. 

 The courthouse bears no resemblance, cither in its 

 shape or the absence of a basement, to the Structure B 

 foundation at Marlborough. The site, reached more 

 easily than Marlborough from any direction, dictated 

 the removal to it of the courthouse in 1 722, thus 

 contributing to the demise of Marlborough as a town. 

 The last structure, especially, was historically im- 

 portant because of the meetings of the Ohio Com- 

 pany held in it. It is of particular interest to the 

 story of Marlborough because John Mercer was, for 

 most of its existence, the senior justice of the Stafl'ord 

 court. 



122 



