NG Kerk (Klipkerk), Heidelberg (Gauteng)
Built: 1890-1891
Architect: A.C. Brislin & H.G. Veal (won in an architectural competition)
Contractor: J.B. Kirton
The NG congregation was formally established in 1865. The very first church on the site was the Kruiskerk (Cruciform Church), a simpler building erected in 1865 by the Nederduits Hervormde (NH) congregation on the same square. Heinrich Ueckermann (the founder of Heidelberg) acted as secretary of the early church council - he was responsible for authorising payments to the contractor for that first structure.
By the 1880s, both NH Kerk and NG Kerk groups had a presence in the small town, leading to overlapping congregations on the same square.
NH Kerk (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk), the original “state church” of the ZAR, was established in the 1850s (first congregation in Potchefstroom 1842/1853) by Voortrekkers who wanted complete independence from the Cape Colony’s NG Kerk (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk), which they saw as too influenced by British colonial rule. It emphasised strict adherence to the original Dutch Reformed confessions and a more conservative, republican identity. The NG Kerk was seen by some Transvaal hardliners as slightly more “liberal” or Cape-oriented.
After the First Anglo-Boer War, in 1885 the NH and NG churches in Heidelberg negotiated a union and formed the “United Church” (officially styled Nederduitsch Hervormde of Gereformeerde Kerk). The Klipkerk was built by this united congregation. The union was purely local to Heidelberg and driven by practical needs.
The unity did not last. By 1888, a group of hardline NH supporters broke away and formed their own separate NH congregation in Heidelberg. The split became “quite acrimonious.” Dividing the shared church properties and assets led to bitter disputes. Even President Paul Kruger tried to arbitrate but failed. The minister at the time, Rev. Nicolaas van Warmelo (who had arrived in 1867 as an NH minister), stayed with the United Church, but his wife and daughters joined the breakaway NH group (his wife even became the organist there).
- Nicolaas van Warmelo (1835 Netherlands - 1892 Heidelberg).
The corner stone was laid by Kommandant General P.J. (Piet) Joubert on 12 April 1890 and the church was inaugurated on 13 March 1891.
The building features sandstone masonry, a prominent spire with a clock, Gothic Revival elements (pointed arches, rose window), and a large interior with wooden pews and a pipe organ.
After the Anglo-Boer War, the church played a central role in community recovery: the reburial service for fallen Boers was held from the Klipkerk on 17 October 1903, and its basement was used as a classroom when the Laer Volkskool (primary school) began in 1903. In July 1903, the Commander-in-Chief, Genl. Louis Botha and all the Boer generals held the first public meeting after the war. The guest of honor of this meeting was Emily Hobhouse, who delivered her speech on the stairs of the church. The struggle for mother tongue education started in the basement of the Kllipkerk. It became known as the “Cave of Abdulam” and would later become the foundation for Laer Volkskool in 1906.²
Dr. DF Malan was appointed assistant preacher in Heidelberg in May 1905.
In 1909 the tower collapsed (fortunately during lunch hour with no injuries). Rev. A.J. Louw and some church councillors had inspected cracks in the tower only hours before.
A fire occurred in 1967 damaging some of the church interior.
The church was declared a national monument on 6 September 1968.
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