Bredasdorp, All Saints Anglican Church

Abstract

Photographs and information on the bell of the All Saints Anglican Church, Bredasdorp. This Sophie Gray church was consecrated by Bishop Gray in 1863 after the cornerstone was laid in 1859 and the first service held in it in 1861. It was built on a plot given to the church by Joseph Barry, a member of the well-known Barry family. The church has many features of a typical church designed by Sophie Gray, the long stone nave with the cross at the east end and a bellcote on the west end wall. In the bellcote sits a bell with the inscription QUEEN OF THE THAMES and below that the date 1870. There is no indication of the founder of the bell. The Queen of the Thames was shipwrecked on St Patrick’s day, 1871. She was built at a large cost, was built for speed and was the first of its kind. On its return maiden voyage from Australia it was shipwrecked when it hit Struys Point after a bush fire was mistaken for the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse. Many of the ship’s relics can be seen in the Bredasdorp Shipwreck Museum.