St Michael and St George Cathedral, Makhanda
The Cathedral of St Michael and St George is the home of the Anglican Diocese of Grahamstown in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is the episcopal seat of the Bishop of Grahamstown. The cathedral is located on Church Square and has the tallest spire in South Africa 176 feet (54 m).[2] The cathedral is dedicated to St Michael and St George and celebrates its patronal festival on the Sunday closest to Michaelmas (29 September).
Cathedral of St Michael and St George
South Africa
1824
21 September 1850
1952
500
91 feet (28 m)[1]
58 feet (18 m)[1]
60 feet (18 m)[1]
1
150 feet (46 m)[1]
Stone
Grahamstown
Mzinzisi Dyantyi
Lunga Dongwana, Luthando Madiba
Siphokazi Njokweni
Cameron Luke
Jonathan Hughes
The Choir of The Cathedral of St Michael and St George
The St Michael's Marimba Band
Lou-Anne Liebenberg
Conflict[edit]
The Diocese of Grahamstown was founded in 1853 with John Armstrong as the first bishop. During the oversight of Bishop Nathaniel Merriman when Frederick Henry Williams was dean, conflict arose between the two regarding the status of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa versus the Church of England and the validity of the appointments of bishops. Dean Williams then excluded Bishop Merriman from his cathedral. This action resulted in many court cases which Williams won.
Various schemes had been discussed from time to time for the building of a more worthy cathedral, but nothing was done until 1874, when it was discovered that the original tower, in which the town clock had been placed, was in danger. Dean Williams set about the work of collecting funds and was loyally supported by the vestry. Plans were prepared for the tower and spire as part of a complete new building by Sir George Gilbert Scott, at that time the most notable leader of the Gothic revival. He made a free gift to Grahamstown of the various plans and working details and the building of the "Public Clock Tower", as it was called, was carried through by the committee without employing a contractor. The tower and spire were finished in 1878.
Merriman died in 1882 and was succeeded by Allan Becher Webb, then Bishop of Bloemfontein. Webb was elected on 7 March 1883. Dean Williams would not recognise Webb as bishop either so, in November 1883, Webb set up his throne in an iron building (formerly a skating rink) on the site of the present post office to which the name of St Michael's Pro-Cathedral was given. But after Williams's death in August 1885, negotiations between the bishop and the select vestry were begun. Webb became "officiating minister" (the term used in the Church Ordinance) of St George's and officiated at the services on Christmas Day in 1885. After the reconciliation, the building was repaired and Webb began to collect funds for carrying the erection of a worthy cathedral one stage further. After attending the Lambeth Conference of 1888, he returned with £3,000 collected in England. The plans for the chancel were prepared by John Oldrid Scott while William White-Cooper acted as superintending architect and designed several of the fittings. The foundation-stone was laid by Henry Loch, the Governor of the Colony, on 29 January 1890. The completed structure was consecrated by the Bishop Webb on All Saints' Day in 1893 in the presence of the Metropolitan, West Jones, and other bishops.[9]
A new nave, designed by John Oldrid Scott, was dedicated in 1912, just eight days short of the centenary of the establishment of Grahamstown. It is Victorian neo-gothic in style, with a granite and sandstone exterior, plastered interior walls with marble pillars. The building of the cathedral was finally completed in 1952 with the addition of the Lady Chapel. It can accommodate about 500 people.
Deanery[edit]
The deanery is a large Victorian house set in its own grounds adjacent to the cathedral hall. It has reception rooms and a study for the dean on the ground floor and completely private quarters above. There is an additional "bed-sit" attached which is suitable for short-term guests of the parish or the dean. The sub-deanery is a modern four-bedroom house with adequate reception rooms, a very small study, a garage and its own entrance, backing on to the deanery.
Bells[edit]
History[edit]
The first ring of bells to be installed in Africa was hung in the cathedral tower in 1879. The bells, an octave cast by John Warner and Sons in London, were supplied complete with fittings and with a frame of English oak. The chancel was consecrated by Bishop Webb on 1 November 1893 and was dedicated to both St George and St Michael to mark the healing of a historic breach in the diocese. In 1902 remedial work was undertaken on the bell frame and fittings in the tower.
The frame was assembled in the tower by local labour but not, apparently, in the way in which Warners had intended. Henry Carter Galpin,[a] a local clockmaker, had been employed by the town council to install the town clock in the cathedral tower. He wished it to strike on bells other than those intended by Warners and modified the frame accordingly, placing one bell in a subsidiary frame raised above the other bells. As a result, seven of the eight bells swung in the same direction. This made the bells extremely difficult to ring and it is probable that they were only, initially, swung chimed. In 1887 it was reported that the joint of the bell frame "require tightening up throughout".
In 1902 remedial work was undertaken on the bell frame and fittings and a band was in training under the tuition of a "Cape Town expert", a Mr Stephens. In 1903 the ringers were "Mr Lancaster (Captain), Dr Drury, Messrs G. Barnes, Charles Cory, Huntly and Walker". The bell frame, however, still gave trouble and ringing ceased in 1913.
In 1959 "Mr Eardley from Stoke-on-Trent ... fitted new ropes" and undertook sufficient maintenance to enable four bells to be rung. In 1968 a change ringing band was formed under the tuition of Paul Spencer, who had learned to ring at Armitage Bridge in Yorkshire, and Bill Jackson, who had learned at Dalton-in-Furness in Lancashire.
In 1993, supported by Rhodes University, the bells were rehung in a new steel frame donated by Koch's Cut and Supply Steel Centre of Pinetown, Durban, with new headstocks provided by Eayre and Smith (Overseas) Ltd, now part of John Taylor & Co. The frame was designed by Dr Ray Ayres with pits for ten bells and was assembled in the tower by local labour guided by Dave Webster of Eayre and Smith and by Colin Lewis. The first peal on the bells was rung on 17 December 1995, conducted by Alan Regin in 3 hours and 12 minutes: Cambridge Surprise Major.
In 1997 two trebles, cast the previous year in London at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, were added to the ring.[12] The first peal on the ten was rung on 4 April 1998, conducted by Timothy G. Pett in 3 hours 19 minutes: Cambridge Surprise Royal.
By the end of 2000, five peals and 27 quarter-peals had been rung on the bells.
Bell details[edit]
Details of the bells are:
Explanatory statement regarding plaques in 1995
John Gibson and Frederick Donald Howell memorial
![Joshua Davis Norden memorial [b]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/GT-Norden.jpg/245px-GT-Norden.jpg)
Gordon Nourse memorial
Thomas Charles White memorial
Edward Cory memorial window
Cathedral
