Beaufort West: Stone Churches

During our walk in Beaufort West we was some beautiful churches.  Christ Church (the Anglican Church on the corner of Donkin and Hill Street) was one of our main reasons for visiting the town. We were very surprised to find another beautiful stone church close to Christ Church on the corner of Donkin and Devenish Street. 














The small School Chapel or Christ Church Lodge was built in 1849.  According to Desmond Martin in his book “The Bishop’s Churches” there is good reasons to believe that the chapel was built from a design by Sophy Gray.  Bishop Gray visited the town in November 1848 and a minister was appointed.  The Bishop’s journal does not mention the chapel but the design is similar to the Newlands Chapel and other Sophy Gray Churches. 
Christ Church was designed by Sophy Gray and was completed in 1854. It was consecrated by Bishop Gray on 21 October 1855.  The church was later altered: the main entrance was moved from the side to the Donkin Street side and a chancel was added.














The church was surrounded with a fence and all the gates were locked.  During the three days we spend in Beaufort West we tried to few times to get a closer look.  We also tried to phone the church without success. 














We planned to attend a church service at the Dutch Reformed Church on Sunday but changed the plan.  We waited in the car for about 30 minutes outside the Christ Church.  But nobody came and the gate and church stayed close. We will try again on another visit.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eyewitness Travel Guides – A Book Review

Image
  Last month I wrote a book review and I enjoyed it.   Today I want to share some more of my favourite travel books.   DK Eyewitness Travel Guides I bought my first travel guide in 2008. I was planning a trip with my friend Lelanie to London and Europe.   While planning the trip I bought the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Europe and I paid R 282.00 for it.   Except for my university textbooks, this was the most expensive book I have ever bought for myself.    We were doing a Contiki Tour and visited 7 countries.   I studied the information in guide the about the cities we would visit.    I made lists of places I want to see and then looked for more information about them.   In the end I did not take the guide with me (the 800 pages was just to heavy to carry along) but packed all my lists to use.  At Departures at Cape Town Airport in 2008 My second guide was for the same trip.   The Eyewitness Travel Top 10 London traveled with us.   We stayed in London for 4 da
Read more

Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê

Image
   Weather vane on the VGK Church in Carnarvon    This photo made me think of a song we used to sing as kids.    It is a traditional Afrikaans song about the rooster on top of the church. The words of the song and its translation: Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower Dis die haan, Dis die haan It’s the rooster, It’s the rooster Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower More about all the churches and other buildings we saw in Carnarvon in the next post.
Read more

Dutch Reformed Mother Church, George

Image
One of my favourite sights in George is the white Dutch Reformed Mother Church with the beautiful Outeniqua Mountain as background.   I have many memories of visiting this church: On a history class trip when I was about 10, for a art class when I was about 13, for my cousins wedding in 2004, for her baby’s christening a few years later and many other times.   But most of all I like seeing this church every time we drive through town.   The cornerstone for the church was laid on 14 April 1832.   Slaves were used for some of the building work like the digging of the six-foot deep by five-foot wide foundations.   Due to financial problems it took 12 years to complete the church and it was consecrated in 9 October 1842.  The church is a National Heritage Site. On 13 September 1905 disaster struck when the church tower collapsed.   The wood rotted from water damage and lead to the walls weakening.   After a lot of rain for two days the tower collapsed.   The tower was reb
Read more