A Historic look at Churches in the Vaal Area

The Voortrekkers were very religious and brought their religion with them when they left the Cape colony to move inland.

This can be seen in the fact that they built a church in almost every new town that was established.

One such church is the Dutch Reformed sandstone church in Heidelberg. The first church became too small and needed to undergo very expensive restorations. The decision was taken that a new church had to be built.

On the 24th of October in 1889, a contract was signed to build a church with between eight and nine hundred seats. On 12 April 1890, the cornerstone of the new church was laid by Cmndt.-Genl. P. J. Joubert, the vice president of the then Z. A. R.  The church was built in the Norman style, with large pillars, arch windows and an arch above each doorway. A large hall was built underneath the church. The inaugural service was held on 13 March 1891.

Although 77 members of the congregation were killed in the second Anglo-Boer war, the church itself was not damaged.  Today, the hall underneath the church houses the church museum.

In some instances, the need to build new churches directly led to the establishment of towns, as is the case with the churches of Vredefort and Parys.

Because of the fact that towns in the Northern Free State, in those days, were very far apart, the Dutch Reformed church found that members of the congregation had to travel very far with ox wagons to attend services. Thus they only attended when a communion service was held at Kroonstad.

In 1873 the Dutch Reformed church in Kroonstad decided that a new church had to be built between the Renoster River and the Vaal River.

In 1874 a Mr. De Villiers, Mr. J. G. Luyt, who was an attorney from Heidelberg, and a Mr. Fleck was sent to visit the farm Klipspruit. The idea was to obtain ground on the farm that can be divided into yards, to be sold so that a town could be established. This would also then be the site for the new church.

But the owners of farm Klipspruit passed up the opportunity. Refusing to give in, the three men then visited the neighbouring farm, Vischgat. The owner of farm Vischgat approved, and in 1882 the construction of a sandstone church was started. The town of Vredefort was born.

The Van Coller brothers, who were the owners of the farm Klipspruit, realised that they let a golden opportunity slip through their fingers. It is not sure how the negotiations with the commission of the Dutch Reformed church took place, but they donated a large portion of Klipspruit to the church.

A hundred and thirteen yards were sold, and the citizens erected a sandstone church at their own cost, which was completed by 1880. Thus Parys was established.

Today, these sandstone churches are among the few historic buildings remaining in Vredefort and Parys.  Other historic sandstone churches can be found in Vereeniging and Heilbron.

Article written by Tinkie Testa