In
the earliest days, when Potchefstroom first was established as a little
village in 1841 there were no members of the Church but it was not long
before English traders began to arrive. In 1859 Mr. Stamp and Mr. A.C.
Ricketts arrived from Graaff Reinett and settled here permanently.
English
speaking people were anxious to have services in their own language
and after some years the Anglican Church awoke to its responsibilities.
Bishop Gray had been consecrated the first Bishop of the Cape in 1847.
In 1850 he visited Bloemfontein and he placed a chaplain there. Then,
at last in February, 1862 the first Bishop of the Orange Free State,
Bishop Twells, arrived. He visited Potchefstroom, and no doubt, this
was the first Anglican service to be held in this parish. The Rev. W.
Richardson arrived early in 1865 to begin the first work of the Church
beyond the Vaal River.
First
church
The
community though small , set to work to build a little church and Rectory.
At first they had to hire a disused store in which to hold services.
On March 25th 1867 President Marthinus Wessel Pretorius laid the foundation
stone of the first Church and Bishop Twells blessed it.
It
was not a very large building holding at most 80. It had a high pitched
thatched roof, lancet windows, and a mud floor and no ceiling. It cost
about £450. A couple of years later, alongside was built a tiny
rustic parsonage.
In
1871 a Swede, named Mouberg died and left everything he possessed to
St. Mary's. The curch building was in a very bad state of disrepair
and the present site of the church was bought and plans for a larger
stone church were made.
At
the beginning of the building everything went well ,but in August the
Chanel Arch fell. Mr. J.W. Gaisford, who was connected with the church
for 40 years stepped in. In August 1891, £3,400 had been spent
but the church was still unfinished.
Alfred
Roberts was made a Canon of St. Albans Cathedral Pretoria when he was
transferred to Potchefstroom. A few weeks later his title was changed
to Archdeacon of Potchefstroom. In 1896 the new Rectory was completed.
It had been made possible by a bequest of £200 by Miss Farnsworth
and Captain Hugh Bailie who lent the rest of the £250 to complete
the building.
