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Rhenish Mission Church
Stellenbosch, Western Cape
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Church of the Rhenish Missionary Society. Missionary work had been carried out in Stellenbosch since 1801, when Het Stellenbosche Meedewerkende Zendelings Genootschap was established. A church was only completed in 1824, a small rectangular building under a thatch roof, its gables have pilaster straight sloping sides and a pediment. After the emancipation of the slaves in 1838, this building soon proved too small, and a side wing was added and completed in 1840, giving the church an L-shape. The main entrance was placed in the newly created front, with a two-leaved door under a large semi-circular fanlight, similar to the earlier previous, now side entrance. The gable differs somewhat from the earlier ones, having curly flanks and a winged crown. The double-arched bell-tower is modern and the work of W Blersch; early photographs show an attractive bell-tower made of timber. The fine pulpit of this church is often attributed to ANREITH but was in fact made in 1853 for the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk - Moederkerk, Stellenbosch, by Simon Londt (b. 1810). It was donated to the Rhenish Church when the 'gothicising' of the former, in 1863, called for a new pulpit to match. The erroneous attribution was based on style. Londt, whose father had been steward of the Lodge de Goede Hoop, must have been well acquainted with ANREITH's work, and his pulpit shows very clearly the influence of both the Groote Kerk and the Lutheran Church pulpits. Its box, on scroll legs, looks much like that of the former, while the lectern is almost a copy (without the swan) of the latter. (Extracted and edited from Fransen 2004:177). A full restoration was undertaken under the architect GT FAGAN in 1977. [E Strassberger 'The Rhenish Mission Society in SA 1830-1950' 1969.] See also the Rhenish Parsonage. References:
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