Beaufort West: Dutch Reformed Church

While visiting Beaufort West I learned a bit more about my husband’s family history.

Beaufort West was built on the farm “Hooyvlakte” of Abraham le Clercq or De Clerq and his son Jacob.  He was a French Huguenot who came to South Africa in the late 17th century.  My husband’s surname (and now also mine) is De Klerk. This is the Afrikaans form of “Le Clercq” and Abraham le Clercq was the founding father of the De Klerk family in South Africa.
Abraham sold the farm and in 1818 the town Beaufort was proclaimed.  Lord Charles Somerset named the town “Beaufort” after his father, the 5th Duke of Beaufort.  It was renamed to Beaufort West in 1869 to avoid confusion with other towns also named after the Duke of Beaufort (Like Fort Beaufort)
The Dutch reformed Church was established soon after the founding of the town in 1820.  The Scottish Rev. John Taylor was appointed the first minister.  Church services were first held under a tree and later in a room in Abraham le Clercq’s farmhouse.  In 1824 another Scot, Rev Colin Fraser, was appointed as the second minister after Rev Taylor moved to Cradock.

Memorial for Rev Fraser
Rev Fraser raised funds for a church building by collections and in 1826 the corner stone for the church was laid.  The church was completed in 1830.
The building became to small in 1892 building started on a new church. Scottish architect James Bisset designed the current church.  Some parts of the original church were incorporated in the new church.  The new building was consecrated on 22 September 1984.
The church hall or “Jongelieden Zaal” was built in 1913 and a cast-iron fence was also built around the church.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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