Local society visits beautiful, historic church

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Members of the Graaff-Reinet Heritage Society Club recently visited the St James Anglican Church in Somerset Street.

There, they learned more about the stunning establishment, which is the oldest church in Graaff-Reinet still used for worship.

The first part of the church was built in 1850 and was designed by Sophia Gray, the wife of the bishop of Cape Town at the time.

Community member Gerald Buisman shared his knowledge on the beautiful stained-glass windows and brass and marble plaques inside the church.

The windows were imported from England, and depict Biblical scenes.

Windows symbolising charity, hope and faith were brought to Graaff-Reinet from the Pier St Methodist Church in Port Elizabeth when it was demolished in the 1970s.

Two plaques in the church are in memory of soldiers of the Cold Stream Guards who died in the Anglo-Boer War.

Poignantly A H Law died on 4 November 1918, the very day of the cease-fire, and Robert McFarlane was only 17 when he was killed in 1914.

John Henry de la Harpe, whose family members live in Graaff-Reinet, died at El Alamein on 15 July 1942.

Registers of baptisms, marriages and burials are kept by the church, with completed registers held in the diocesan archives in George.

The present register of deaths goes back to the 1840s.

Earlier this year, Eleonora de Goede from Kenya was pleased to find a record of her ancestor's burial in 1861.

The Advertiser paid a visit to the church on Tuesday and was thrilled to see a handful of tourists admiring one of Graaff-Reinet's many architectural and historic attractions.

The inside of the beautiful St James Anglican Church.