Witzenberg, Wolseley, Dutch Reformed Church

Abstract

Wolseley, Dutch Reformed Church. The founding stone of the attractive Dutch Reformed Church in Wolseley was laid in 1942. The church has no tower but there is a bell that is hidden by the front wall of the church. The bell hangs in a covered frame above the main entrance to the church. While decorative, the bell’s position makes it impossible to measure its physical dimensions. A sound recording was possible. The bell comes from the Petit & Fritsen foundry in the Netherlands and is similar to all other bells from that foundry. There is a broad decorative band below the shoulder with angels playing musical instruments. Below it is a smaller band with hanging leaves. In between the two bands one finds a text that refers to the founder. One reads around the bell + Petit & Fritsen Aarle-Rixtel, Holland.+ + + A.D. 1955 + We expect that on the invisible waist of the bell, one also finds the intricate founder’s coat of arms. In between two moulding wires above the sound bow and three on the lip one can read a small part of a text. Comparing what was readable with the common practice of the foundry we expect the text to be, Gelewer Deur Suid-Afrikaanse Orrelbouwers (EDMS) Beperk. Silverton. We have not found information on this specific bell in the Regionaal Historisch Centrum, Eindhoven that houses the archives of the foundry. We learned from these archives that South African Organ Builders (SAOB) often ordered a bulk of bells from Petit & Fritsen without giving information of their ultimate destination. Even when we know the date of delivery, it is an almost impossible task to try to find out where these bells ultimately ended up. Of course, this problem could be resolved if one could gain access to the archives of SAOB.