WILLIAM CHURTON HOUSE/OFFICE

This structure is believed to be the house and/or office of William Churton (b. circa 1749, d. December 1767), surveyor and cartographer for Earl Granville and a founder of Hillsborough (initially called "Orange," then renamed Corbinton/Corbin Town, then Childsburg, then Hillsborough in 1766).

Cornwallis's office, view east (1849 sketch by Benson Lossing)

1768 Sauthier map excerpt, showing Churton's house/office at upper left

The building was used as Charles Cornwallis's office when the British army occupied Hillsborough in January 1781. On January 1, 1849, New York artist and historian Benson J. Lossing visited Hillsborough, on a tour of Revolutionary War sites: "I employed the first morning of the new year, in visiting places of interest at Hillsborough, in company with the Reverend Dr. Wilson. The first object to which my attention was called was a small wooden building, represented in the engraving on the next page, situated opposite the hotel where I was lodged. Cornwallis used it for an office, during his tarryings in Hillsborough, after driving General Greene out of the state... ."

It is unknown when Churton's house and office were demolished/deconstructed. The Webb Warehouse was built circa 1870 on this property (which was later used as a garage and as storage for the local school district), then in 1953 the "new" Orange County Courthouse was built on the property.