St Ninian's Anglican Church - Heidelberg (Gauteng)

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Built: 1882 : 1896

Architect: Unidentified

Status: Extant

Church with rectory on right.²

Rectory. Google Street View (2017)

Stained glass window. Source: Dr David Biggins on Angloboerwar.com. Photographer: Colin Ross.³

St Ninian’s Anglican Church stands on the corner of Marais and Voortrekker Streets in Heidelberg. Built in 1882 as a simple hall-style structure with roughly plastered walls and Gothic windows, it is one of the town’s earliest Anglican buildings. The adjacent rectory and outbuildings date from 1896. During the British occupation of Heidelberg in the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), the church was frequently used by soldiers and became an important focal point for the British garrison.

Its ornamental stained-glass windows were installed in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. A veranda was later added in honour of the Rev. R.A. Urquhart, one of the early rectors. In 1953 two oak trees were planted in Voortrekker Street to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip.

The church remains a modest but historically significant landmark that reflects both the pre-war British settler presence in the Transvaal and Heidelberg’s role during the South African War. Its simple, functional design - typical of many small Anglican mission churches of the period - has been well preserved and is still used for worship today.

The church received a Blue Plaque in 2021.

Locality map

Sources
  1. Heidelberg Heritage Museum
  2. The Citizen: St Ninian’s Anglican Church receives blue plaque status. December 12, 2021. Viljoen, E.
  3. St Ninian's Church, Heidelberg

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