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Date: 1871 Client: Anglican Church Type: Anglican Church Style: Kent Style Status: Extant Street: Church St   Click to view map Coordinates: 28°32'10.01" S 24°31'15.92" E Alt: 1105m

Very simple buttressed hall church with plastered body under thatch and flat-iron flèche on ridge. The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin in Barkly West was for some years the principal Anglican parish on the Diamond Fields in South Africa, and the churches established soon afterwards at the Dry Digging – what would become Kimberley – were at first mere outstations. In February 1871 the British High Commissioner Sir Henry Barkly, during his visit, laid the foundation stone. The church was dedicated in November 1872, with Father E Stenson as first rector. It held its place as the first and principal parish at this western edge of the Diocese of Bloemfontein, until gradually other parishes – such as those in Kimberley – could stand on their own, having initially been chapelries administered from Barkly West. (Extracted from Wikipedia and submitted by Lila Komnick, August 2025) References: Bawcombe, Philip & Scannell, Ted. 1976. Philip Bawcombe's Kimberley. Johannesburg: Village Publishing. pg 126-127 Menache, Philippe & David, Darryl Earl. 2015. Church tourism in South Africa : a travel odyssey. South Africa: Self-published by Philippe Menache and Darryl Earl David. pg 98