still under construction
Bloemfontein
Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State, a rather large town, full of interesting history. Normally I would not write about such a big place, but I had an invite to spend a few days there to look at all these historical places. So, here it is.
Early history
The farm on which Bloemfontein was established belonged to a Griqua by the name, Mauritz Pretorius, since the 1820th. It is said that the place was named Bloemfontein, flower fountain, by him. This part of the history is a bit vague. Also the naming of the place is not certain, there are other theories.
What is well known is that Johannes Nicolaas Brits settled here in 1840. He came to some agreement with the British resident, HD Warden to sell the farm for £37 and 10 Shilling. His soldiers built a simple mudbrick house to serve as the residence. HD Warden had moved his residency from Philippolis to the new place further north in anticipation of the British taking over the whole of the Free State, which did happen in 1848. That is when Bloemfontein became the administrative centre of the Free State.
The Fort
The town was first established by the British in 1846, as a centre of the new area they were occupying, Trans Orange. At that time the Boers still held the northern parts of the later Orange Free State as part of the republic of Natal. One of the first building venture was to erect a fort for defence against any one who wanted to attack the new place. But that wasn't this one. A first enclosure was erected near the present corner of Markgraaf and Charles street, that was the Fort Drury. Building a bigger fort, the Queens fort, commenced in 1848. This can be seen in the Baines paintibg on the far right.
The site of the fort is now a military museum. In the outside area there are a number of military vehicles, all going rusty and sourounded by high grass and weeds. I am not an expert with these things, but one tank caught my eye, it looked very Russian, like a T54. I could not confirm this.
The upper part of the fort surrounded by the ramparts is the inner fort, a proper building with a roof. This is a museum to which we tried to get access, but failed. There was a person behind the bars, but she claimed we cannot visit the museum because there is no power. My answer that we will bring torches did not help, because now suddenly she didn't know where the key is.
The building was used by a number of defence related bodies and at one point also as an asylum. The most well known inmate was David Pratt, who in 1960 made an attempt to assassinate the then Prime minister Dr. Verwoerd. He was declared insane and thus unable to stand trial. He committed suicide in this building in 196?.
Basutu war memorial
Situated in the grounds of the fort. It commemorates the loss of life suffered during these wars. Yes plural, there were three, so called, Basuto wars, 1858, 1865-66 and 1868. But reading the first inscription, this monument is for the victims of the Basutu war 1865 to 68. The monument was designed and build by Richard Wocke, a local archidect and master builder. He was also a participant in the war during 1866. It was inaugurated in 1875.
The inscription has suffered over the years and can only be read with difficulties. Through photo enhancement I managed to decipher the first panel. I am not certain I have captured it 100% correct. This panel translated from Dutch: To the memory of the braves that fought in the Basuto war 1865-1868, who gave their lives to the fatherland, from a thankful nation.
die ou Raadsaal
First an apology, during our visit I completely forgot to take an overall picture of the place. Only a picture of the raadsaal from inside the compound was taken. Thus I had to use one which I found on the Museum website. Apologies again.
The old raadsaal or council chamber was not built for that purpose. It was initially erected by the British Resident, Major HD Warden, as a school room. It was built in 1849 and is today the oldest still standing building of Bloemfontein. The cost was £450, which was half the money he had received from the sale of stands of the new town. The school opened in 1849 with the schoolmaster, Charles Drury, and 28 children.
The school room was also used by some churches. On request from the community the Cape government sent out Rev Andrew Murray jnr to lead the congregation, s well as other congregations in the area. NG church services were held in the school from 1849 to 1852. The Anglican church also availed themselves, using the school rooms as from 1850.
It was also the venue for the legislative council from 1849 to 1854 and with the Free State gaining independence it served the Volksraad (peoples assembly) from 1854 to 1856.
A new chapter was started in 1877 when the building was used for the newly established National Museum. That was until 1915 when the exhibits were moved to the present building of the National Museum. The picture {top left} shows the western wing, an addition to the museum, built in 1891. It contains an exhibition of he history of Bloemfontein and the Free State.
The raadsaal was declared a national monument in 1936.
Part of this complex is also an exhibition of the early means of transport, wagons, carriages and carts, as well as general information on early (pre-car) transport systems. Some interesting stuff in there, that is what I thought.
Old Presidency
It is commonly referred to as the 'old' presidency, but in my opinion it should be the new presidency, read on.
When the Sovereignty was abandoned in 1854, the mud house build for the Britsh resident became the residence for the presidents of the republic. 
The following presidents resided in it, JP Hoffman, JN Boshoff and MW Pretorius. A new residence was build in 1860, see picture, source: museum. A simple structure but a bit more stately then the previous mud-brick building. The building was renovated and repaired a number of times. It became apparent that the building could not be repaired any further, it had to be replaced. Proposals were invited internationally as part of a competition with winning bid receiving £100. The winners were the English architects, A.Canning and F.Goad. The cost of construction was going to be £12000.
To save costs it was decided to not excavate for the foundation, but rather to build onto the foundations of the previous building. (a personal note from the editor, I find it difficult to belief that the foundation of a single story building would be suitable for a double story). Construction started in 1885 and was completed in 1886, with president Brand moving in. It also served the next two presidents, FW Reitz and MT Steyn.
With the British occupation in 1900 it became the residence of the governor of the Orange River Colony, Sir Hammilton J Goold-Adams. After that it served various functions until it was made into a museum in 1984.
Anglican Church
The church I want to write about is the Cathedral of St.Andrew and St.Michael. Its history goes back to the early times of Bloemfontein.
When the Sovereignty was first established it came under the diocese of Cape Town for the Anglican church. The first Anglican service was held on the 5-May-1850 when Bishop Grey came to visit the new territory. During that visit he was asked to provide a permanent minister for the town and also to consider building a church. Money had already been collected (£200 and a plot to erect the church had been identified. The foundation stone was laid on the 25 November 1850 by Major Warden in the presence of Archdeacon Merriman. And here I have to interrupt a bit. When studying various writings on history one, at times, comes across very interesting people and Archdeacon Merriman is such a person.
He came to South Africa in 1848 to take up the position of Archdeacon at Grahamstown. His duties was to supervise the Anglican Church in the eastern districts of the Cape Colony. It meant that he had to travel extensively to visit all these places. And this is what makes him so interesting, he did this mostly on foot. Sometimes with a native companion and something alone, with just a bag slung over his shoulder. Covering up to 40 Miles a day. This is also how he made his way to Bloemfontein, a distance of 580 km. At 40 miles a day, the journey would have taken him 10 days and 10 days back again. As a active hiker in my younger days he has my respect. Sorry about this distraction, let's carry on building a cathedral.
Progress was made building the church and when it reached roof height timber was ordered from Port Elizabeth, but that never arrived for reasons unknown. Rumours circulated that the load was caught up in the frontier war with the Xhosas. The half finished building was basically abandoned when the British withdrew from the Free State. At the time of the 1st Basotho war it was converted to a fort and after that used as a sheep kraal. It was left that way until Bloemfontein got their own bishop. That was Edward Twells who was enthroned on the 3 Oct 1863.
He gave church building a push. The new cathedral was to be built on the site of the previous, unfinished church. The old walls were removed and a start made on the new one. The architect was Dudley Mole from England and the builder was Richard Wocke. And here is an interesting person again.
Richard Wocke came from Germany and established himself as a master builder and architect in Bloemfontein. The cathedral was his first major project, after that he had his hand in many of the buildings and churches in Bloemfontein and the Free State. Such as the twin tower NG church, the Brandfort NG church, many of the government buildings and the Basutu war monument (see above).
The new cathedral was consecrated on the 30 Nov 1866, but soon it had become to small and an extension was planned. The foundation stone for the extension was laid by President Brand in 1882 and completion was in 1885. Looking at the picture of the inside, one can clearly see which is the old part, from the big arch to the furthest back is the old church and the foreground is the newer extension.
Later the bell tower was added in 1906, the design was by Herbert Baker. This one stood for 50 years, cracks in the foundation were noticed and remedial action taken but to no avail, it had to be demolished for safety reason. A new tower in the same style was build in 1985.
From the commemorative plaques found inside the church, and there are numerous ones, the one I found the most interesting is the one about Tolkien, the author of the fantasy novels 'the Hobbit' and 'Lord of the Rings', from which the well known films were produced.
Methodist church
National Museum
Anglo Boer war museum
Cemetery
Twin tower-NG church
BloemfonteinReferences
Ref 1.: Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa, Nasou Limited, 1974
Ref 2.: PJ Nienaber, CJP le Roux, 'Vrystaat Fokus', CUM Boeke, 1982
Ref 3.: Gedenkalbum van die Oranje-Vrystaat, 1954
Ref 4.: A brief history of the Anglican Cathederal of St.Andrew and St.Michael (Bloemfontein), compiled by Alan.C.Brown, 2000