Napier, Dutch Reformed Church

Abstract

Photographs and information on the bell of the Dutch Reformed Church, Napier. The Napier Dutch Reformed congregation was founded in 1848 as its 36th oldest congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church. The church has a badly kept large bell that hangs in the tower. It does not carry any decoration or inscription. It has a very long shape and reminds one of the Drieankerbaai Dutch Reformed Church bell and the bell in the Stanford Dutch Reformed Church. The bell has both a clapper and an outside hammer. The bell is still used as a ringing bell. The bell is covered with pigeon droppings. In front of the church hall, situated opposite the church, hangs another bell, dating from 1904, but without a clapper. This bell hangs in a horseshoe type construction next to the church. Below the date on the waist one recognizes the emblem of the Barwell founders as has already been encountered in the St. Mary’s church in Woodstock and on a number of bells in the wine estates in the neighbourhood of Stellenbosch.