Simon’s Town Historical Mile #3: Wesley Methodist Church
Note: The given coordinates are for the parking area
The cache is centred around this historical building at an elevated location with fine views over Simon’s Town Harbour and False Bay.
It may be done as a stand-alone or easily combined as part of Simon’s Town Historical Mile #4: West Side (GC393ME) which passes by the church.
History (taken from Simon’s Town Its History [undated] published by the Simon’s Town Historical Society with additions found on the web)
The church was formally opened for service on Thursday 9 October 1828 and is the oldest Wesleyan/Methodist church still in use as a church in this country.
Sergeant John Kendrick, a lay preacher, left for South Africa in April 1806 with the 21st Yorkshire (Beaumont's) Light Dragoons who were deployed to Cape Town, to protect the Indian trade route. He arrived at the Cape in mid July and was posted fairly quickly to Saldanha Bay. Whilst stationed there he made contact with George Middlemiss of the 72nd Regiment, who had been enquiring as to the location of other Methodists in the British Army within South Africa. Kendrick began organising Methodist classes and by 1810 he had 50 members. Meetings in Cape Town were often held in the open air at the foot of Table Mountain and whilst at Wynberg in 1811 he used an empty barracks room as a place of worship but this proved unpopular with his superiors who took a dim view of his evangelical activities. This ultimately led to his relinquishing of the rank of Troop Sergeant Major (which he had attained in February 1810) in March 1812 although he and his comrades' religious observances were still discouraged.
At around this time Kendrick was put in charge of a detachment of Dragoons who brought mail to and from Simon ’s Town and he started conducting services in the old Company Stables (where the Shell garage now is). Classes numbered about 140 members but stiff competition from Calvinists lead to a decline to around 75 members by the end of 1813. Kendrick's health also began to decline during 1813 until on 18 November (after an illness of twelve days) he died aged only 35 and was buried in the military cemetery at Green Point in Cape Town.
Kendrick had repeatedly written to the Wesleyan Methodist Church in London imploring them to send a minister to the Cape and this was finally agreed to by the Wesleyan Methodist Conference of 1814 when the Rev John McKenny was dispatched to the Cape arriving in August 1814 (4 months after the establishment of the first Anglican Church in South Africa at Simon’s Town). He sought permission to preach but this was not granted and he left to go on to Ceylon. The disappointed soldiers repetitioned the Missionary Committee which resulted in Rev. Barnabas Shaw and his wife arriving on 14 April 1816. He was of Yorkshire stock and very talented. He could plough, make a plough share or build a house. When he knew he was coming to the Cape he quickly learned Dutch and after one year could preach in Dutch.
Shaw also did not receive permission to preach but decided to flout authority and carry on. He got help from Captain Proctor of the Regiment who let him build a chapel on land he owned ‘in the forest’. At Simon’s Town he used a room belonging to a soldier of the 83rd Regiment. Land in Simon’s Town was earmarked in 1826 and on 13 August 1827 the foundations were begun. The Chapel was completed and opened for worship on 9 October 1828 although the ground was only formally granted on 2 August 1828. The then trustees bravely risked their positions and possessions so that sufficient funds could be raised to erect a Chapel. This was dedicated in 1832 by the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta, Daniel Wilson.
In 1896 the Rev. Ellis J. Williams felt that there was a need for a building where sailors from ships in the Bay and soldiers from the garrison could be provided with indoor recreation and overnight accommodation. He began raising funds to build a suitable place which could serve as a kind of home-from-home. He managed to collect £500 from England. In 1898 Rev. William S. Caldecott, and his wife Marion, with the help of Mr John Wood, a Member of the Legislative Assembly obtained a Government grant of £750 towards the Building Fund. Eventually the home, which incorporated the old Wesleyan Mission School building (now the Kendrick Hall) into the main building, was opened on 3 February 1900 by Rear Admiral Sir Robert H. Harris. The home proved to be a great blessing to the servicemen on the Station especially during the Boer War, the two World Wars and up to 1957 when the Royal Navy handed over the Base to the South African Navy.
Sometime after the opening of the Home, the Church ’s bell tower and main entrance were resited from the south end to the north end of the building where they are now found. In recent years the building has been used by Alcoholics Victorious, as a home where men could be rehabilitated on Christian principles. In 1967 the introduction of the Group Areas Act meant that the coloured folk of Simon’s Town who worshipped in the Church, had to leave to live in Ocean View. This forced removal depleted the Church ’s membership dramatically and set the church back greatly.
The earliest recorded organist was Mr Harold Rowsell (the Postmaster). He was followed by Mrs Phyllis Littlefield who played till Mr Claude Randall began playing on 27 July 1937. He remained the church organist till December 1998, a total of 61 years and a plaque was mounted in the Church on his 80th birthday to commemorate his 60 years at the organ. In 1998 a plaque to honour the Lay Trustees who financed the building of the Church in 1828, was unveiled in the Church and a further plaque was unveiled in the Church Hall when the Hall was named the "Kendrick Hall" in memory of Sgt. Kendrick. A memorial stone was also erected immediately outside the church giving the history of the founding of Methodism in South Africa and also in 1998 the Church was once again renamed The Wesleyan Methodist Church.
To Find the Cache:
Parking is normally available (except on Sunday mornings!) right outside the church @ S34 11.596 E18 25.723 otherwise you can find parking nearby further up on Chapel Close.
Step 1: Find the large memorial stone set into the wall near the entrance commemorating the founding of the church. At the bottom of this is a quote taken from Matthew 16: 1A (note that this last figure is not quite complete!)
Step 2: The number of spikes on the small fence connecting the bell tower to the back wall = B
Step 3: The number of small rectangular glass window panes in most northerly window of the front wall of the church having a cross = C
Step 4: The number of ventilation grills (3 designs) in this same wall = D
Step 5: Look for a small brass plaque set into the wall near the front (NE) corner. This states that the chapel was leased to the Anglican Church from 1830-183E
The cache, a small cylindrical camo-container, is located at:
S34 11.(E-2)(B+2)(A-4) E18 25.E(C-4)D
