On my visits to Cape Town, I often find myself drawn to this attractive little stone church and attendant graveyard situated on the little knoll above Main Street, Rondebosch. It is hard to explain my interest. It is not because of devoutness, since I am not very religious. It may well be due to the association of this church with two of the Cape Colony’s important official appointments: the first Surveyor General and the first Anglican Bishop of Cape Town. But perhaps one requires no real reason, other than curiosity to visit this very interesting and historical site.
Rondebosch, originated from the Dutch name ‘rondeboschen’ meaning round thicket, referring to a clump of trees that grew on the banks of the Liesbeek River.
By the 1830s the village of Rondebosch had become an important residential area for merchants, government officials and visitors from India, yet it lacked a place of worship.
Major Charles Michell (1793-1851), a talented and many faceted man - soldier, musician, artist, surveyor, civil engineer and architect, appointed as the Cape Colony’s first Surveyor General in 1828, decided to remedy this omission. At a meeting held in early August 1832, Michell along with four other Anglicans were elected to serve as trustees of the proposed church building. Following a petition to the Governor for a piece of government land between the Groote Schuur estate of Abraham de Smidt and the Main Road, approval was speedily granted barely three weeks later. Six days later it was consecrated by...
