Contact Artefacts
please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.
Menu
HomeUpfront
Now Up
Books
Towns
Structures
People
Firms
Lexicon
Moravian Mission Church and Mission Station
Enon, Eastern Cape
 |  |  |  |  |
Contact Artefacts | MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | Moravian Mission Church and Mission Station | | ||||||
| |||||||||
Click to view large map Coordinates: | Enon was formed in 1818 by the Moravian Missionary Society on request of the Area Landdrost, Jacob Glen Cuyler, to serve established as a Christian refuge for the Khoikhoi people, offering them protection, education, and spiritual guidance during a turbulent era of colonial expansion, as a buffer between the Xhosa, Tembu and Fingo tribes, then living outside the Cape Colony, and the European farmers and towns inside the Cape Colony. The land was granted by Lord Somerset, the Cape governor, to the Missionary Society in trust, to be administrated on behalf of the Cape Colony in the interests of residents of the missionary station. The site was selected by LATROBE. It is one of South Africa’s Oldest Mission Stations, being part of the wider Moravian missionary network, which also included Genadendal and Elim. It provided land, schooling, and religious instruction to the displaced indigenous Khoikhoi people, where they were instructed in agriculture and self-sufficiency through cultivating the land, creating a thriving farming community. They suffered the hardships of periods of instability, especially during the Frontier Wars between British forces and the Xhosa. Elephants also wreaked havoc with crops and structures. The bell is from the German bell-founder Friedrich GRUHL, who ran the business from 1803 until 1852. The community in turn gave rise to the establishment of the Moravian Mission Station at Clarkson. In recent times the community has been revitalised and the church and its precinct rededicated. References:
|