A recent invitation to spend a weekend in the Western Free State provided an opportunity to visit the cemetery at the small town of Bultfontein. Situated approximately 90 kilometres north of Bloemfontein, I had passed through this town at least fifteen years ago, when I cursorily traipsed the cemetery. This time I undertook to explore it in more detail.
Although approval for the establishment for a village was granted in 1862, disagreement as to the site delayed the laying out of the town until 1873, when it was decided to lay out two towns, one at Bultfontein and one at Hoopstad. The former was established on the farm Bultfontein and accordingly named in 1874. Reputedly, it has the largest grain silo in Africa and quite possibly in the southern hemisphere, with a capacity of 850 000 bags.
The cemetery, opposite the town’s handsome Dutch Reformed Church, seemed to be reasonably maintained with little evidence of vandalism visible. This Church was designed by Hendrik Vermooten (1921-2013), a prolific church architect who had apparently designed 144 churches across South Africa. Vermooten adhered to a distinctive style of church architecture, of which the above church seems to be a typical example.
The oldest graves date from the earlier years of the twentieth century and there are several examples of slate tombstones that have survived the intervening years, surprisingly well. Tombstones engraved from slate seemed to have been popular amongst the Afrikaner rural communities, many of these containing unusual and varied symbols adapted from folk...
