Contact Artefacts please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.	Menu Home Upfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon		Cuylerville Church Bathurst district, Eastern Cape

Date: 1825 : 1831 : 1939 Type: Church Status: Extant

Extant but some of the buildings ruined. A gravel road from Bathurst runs parallel with the coast and leads to the mouth of the Great Fish River. About halfway to the Fish River, on the right side of the road, there stands a modest building amongst thick bushes and overshadowed by a giant blue-gum. This is the historic little Cuylerville Church and a few hundred metres away, on the bank of a small stream, is its picturesque churchyard. (Oberholster 1972:151) Wording on Historical Monuments Commission plaque: CUYLERVILLE CHURCH THE FIRST PARTY OF BRITISH SETTLERS UNDER LIEUTENANT JOHN BAILIE, R.N., GUIDED BY COLONEL JACOB CUYLER, LANDROST OF UITENHAGE, WAS ESTABLISHED IN THIS VICINITY ON 30TH APRIL 1820. BY 1825 THEY HAD FOUNDED THIS BUILDING AS A SCHOOL AND CHURCH. IT WAS REBUILT IN 1831 AND 1839. DURING THE WAR OF 1846-1847 AND 1850-1853 IT WAS HEROICALLY DEFENDED AGAINST PERSISTENT ATTACKS. HISTORICAL MONUMENTS COMMISSION. Proclaimed 1961 All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. References: Oberholster, JJ. 1972. The Historical Monuments of South Africa. Cape Town: Rembrandt Van Rijn Foundation for Culture at the request of the National Monuments Council. pg 151