Sophy Gray Churches

Sophy Gray according to wikipedia:

Sophy Gray or Sophia Gray (5 January 1814 - 27 April 1871), was a Diocesan administrator, artist, architect, horsewoman and the wife of Cape Town bishop Robert Gray. Born 5 January 1814 at Easington in Yorkshire, the 5th daughter of county squire Richard Wharton Myddleton of Durham and Yorkshire, she died at Bishopscourt, Cape Town on 27 April 1871 and was buried in the graveyard of St Saviour's in Claremont. E Hermitage Day wrote "the constant companion of (Robert Gray's) travels, the untiring amanuensis and accountant, the skilful designer of churches, the brightness and stay of his home life at Bishopscourt."

Sophy and Robert came to Cape Town, South Africa in 1847 to establish a new colonial diocese, new churches and schools.  Sophy had brought along architectural plans of churches that could be adapted to design churches for the new Anglican parishes that were to be established.  Between 1848 and 1880 Sophy designed 40 churches in South Africa.

Visiting Sophy Gray Churches:

My husband and I found our first Sophy Gray church by chance while walking around in Caledon in December 2011.  While visiting the All Saints Church in Somerset East we learned more about Sophy Gray and her churches.  Therealso is a Shophy Gray church in both of our home towns, George and Mossel Bay.

We want to try visit all of these churches.  We don’t know if all of them still exists and how many alternations were made but I will keep you updated as we learn more.

Here is a list of all Sophy's churches with the year they were built and when we visited them:

No	Name	Year built	Visited
1	St Paul's Church, Eerste River	1848
2	St James' Church, Graaff-Reinet	1848	May-12
3	St Paul's Church, Rondebosch, Cape Town	1849
4	St George's Church, Knysna	1849	Jun-15
5	School Chapel, Beaufort West	1849	Sep-12
6	Christ Church, Colesberg	1849
7	St Mark's Church, George	1849	Jan-13
8	Holy Trinity Church, Caledon	1850	Dec-11
9	St Saviour's Church, Claremont, Cape Town	1850	Demolished 1904
10	Holy Trinity Church, Belvidere, Knysna	1851
11	St Peter's Church, Pietermaritzburg	1851
12	Christ Church, Swellendam	1852	Apr-13: Demolished, new church on old foundations
13	Christ Church, Beaufort West	1852	Sep-12
14	St James the Great Church, Worcester	1852
15	St John the Baptist Church, Schoonberg, Langkloof	1853
16	All Saints Church, Somerset East	1854	May-12
17	St Paul's Church, North End, Port Elizabeth	1854	Demolished 1959
18	St Matthew's Church, Riversdale	1854	Dec-12
19	School Chapel, Mossel Bay	1855	Jul-12
20	Newlands Chapel, Newlands, Cape Town	1856
21	Armstrong Memorial Chapel, Grahamstown	1856	Demolished 1950
22	St Peter's Church, Cradock	1857
23	Church of St Mary the Virgin, Woodstock, Cape Town	1859
24	All Saints Church, Bredasdorp	1859
25	St Andrew's Chapel, Ceres	1860
26	St Jude's Church, Oudtshoorn	1860	Aug-13
27	Constantia Chapel near Cape Town	1860
28	All Saints Chapel, Durbanville	1860
29	St Mary's Church, Robertson	1861
30	St Thomas' Mission Station, Rondebosch, Cape Town	1864
31	St John's Church, Clanwilliam	1864
32	St Mark's Chapel, District Six, Cape Town	1865	Demolished 1960's
33	St Patrick's Church, Umzinto, KwaZulu-Natal	1868
34	St Augustine's Chapel, Fraserburg	1869
35	St Luke's Mission Church, Swellendam	1869	Apr-13
36	St John's Church, Victoria West	1869	Sep-12
37	All Saints Church, Uniondale	1869
38	St Mildred's Chapel, Montagu	1870
39	St Peter's Church, Plettenberg Bay	1879	Apr-12
40	St Matthew's Church, Willowmore	1880