St Peter’s, Sidbury is 175
St Peter’s Church in the village of Sidbury will commemorate 175 years, on Sunday 18 September, since the first service was held there on 5 May 1841.
The church’s foundation stone had been laid some years earlier on 31 October 1838 by the acting Lt Governor of the Cape Colony, Colonel John Hare, in the presence of a large congregation. It was said that the foundation stone was so heavy it had to be moved into place by a span of oxen. There were many complications in the building of the church and by the time the first service was held in 1841 the building was, as yet, incomplete.
The story of the village goes back even further to June 1820, when Daniell’s Party of 40 British settlers sailed to South Africa on board the Duke of Marlborough. Led by Lt Richard Daniell of Sidbury, Devonshire, the party obtained a grant of land in the proportion of 100 acres for each able-bodied man. On his arrival in the colony, Daniell applied for an additional grant of 500 acres as an officer of the Royal Navy on halfpay, and this was extended to him.
Daniell’s party was not a government-assisted party and was one of three independent parties that fell outside the terms of the emigration scheme with no deposits paid and no free passages provided. The party was settled at Zoetemelkfontein on the Buffelskloof stream, on the western edge of the Albany district and to the west of the other settler locations. Daniell renamed his farm Sidbury Park, and in 1831 surveyed and founded the village of Sidbury adjacent to his farm, including five acres of land for a church and parsonage.
By 1827 Daniell was practically insolvent after the repeated failures of the wheat crop in Albany. His decision to concentrate on merino sheep, bought in the Western Cape in 1828, restored him to wealth and respectability within a few years.
The first wool clips exported from South Africa to Bradford, England came from Daniell’s farm, Sidbury Park, and Table Farm, near Grahamstown.
By 1835, at the height of the Sixth Frontier War, it was reported that Daniell’s flock of merino sheep, numbering 4 000, had been adapted by cross-breeding with the Cape fat-tailed sheep. Sidbury continued to be a major woolgrowing district and for the next 100 years merino sheep became the biggest industry of the Eastern Cape.
Not long after the building of St Peter’s church began, Richard Daniell’s wife, Ann Handfield, died. He had met her, aged 18, on board the Duke of Marlborough and they were married when the ship docked at Table Bay on 5 July 1820. The wedding took place at St. George's Church in Cape Town. Her grave is the oldest in the St Peter’s graveyard and is still visible in Plot 19, with its raised stone walls and cracked slab. The inscription reads: “Sacred to the memory of Ann, wife of Lt Richard DANIELL RN who departed this life the 19th of February 1839 aged 37 yrs.”
Next to his mother is the grave of Richard and Ann’s eldest son, Charles, who was killed in a wagon accident at the age of 26. The inscription on his grave in Plot 20 reads: “Sacred to the memory of Charles Crawford, eldest son of Lt Richard DANIELL RN who departed this life the 20th October 1842 aged 26 yrs.”
During the Xhosa invasions the church served as a place of refuge. It was built so that it could be defended in time of war with strong stone walls plastered over. The square turret was useful as an observation post, and a cellar under the church, which has since been filled in, was used for storing arms and provisions.
The painting by Thomas Baines titled Sidbury on the Main Road between Grahams Town and Algoa Bay dated 20 June 1849, clearly shows the completed church with its south-facing door. Later the southern entrance was blocked up, and the entrance door changed to the north side, where it is today. Four fascinating stones still protrude from the southern wall of the church. These were mounting blocks, two on either side of the original doorway, used by women to mount and dismount their horses as they rode side-saddle to and from church.
It was only on 7 September 1850 that Bishop Gray of Cape Town consecrated the church. He dedicated it to St Peter, patron saint of the church of Sidbury in Devon, the original home of Richard Daniell. Bishop Gray had consecrated St John’s Church in Bathurst on 19 October 1848, and so St Peter’s is two years younger than St John’s in Bathurst.
The 50th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone was commemorated on 30 October 1888: “Special services were followed by a repast (lunch was served at a shilling a head), and the proceedings were rounded off by a cricket match in the afternoon.” ( The Story of Sidbury 1820-1920 by Lorna Slater.) The commemoration was most apt as the Sidbury Cricket Club, founded in May 1843, has been, along with the Methodist and Anglican churches in the village, at the centre of community life throughout the history of the village.
Over the past 25 years the Sidbury community has undergone a rapid change as the area has shifted from a predominantly sheep-farming area to a game-farming and conservation area.
This in addition to depopulation caused by the continuing drift to urban areas. In 1990, the first farm near Sidbury was purchased to become the start of Shamwari Game Reserve. Shortly after, drought and financial difficulties led to a number of neighbouring farmers placing their land on the open market and further land was acquired to a total of 7 000 hectares. Over the course of the next 15 years, Shamwari Game Reserve has expanded to 25 000 hectares, reintroduced the Big Five into the Eastern Cape and been the epicentre of the formation of a number of massive game reserves surrounding Sidbury.
The village of Sidbury itself has been given a new lease on life as the centre of the 6 000 hectare Kwantu Game Reserve. In 1850, Pollards Inn was a thriving hotel on the road to Algoa Bay, and in 2016 Pollards Inn lives again in the village of Sidbury, as a luxury game lodge.
The community of Sidbury and St Peter’s has grown smaller with these changes, with those families remaining in the area making the transi- tion from farming into tourism and conservation.
To mark the 175th anniversary of St Peter’s Church in 2016, a building renovation project has been undertaken, including repainting the building, removing a wild fig growing from the tower, and renovating the wooden floors internally. The congregation is also looking ahead to the next chapter of the Sidbury story, focused on the new industry of the Sidbury district: stewardship and conservation of the earth’s natural resources.
The 175th Anniversary Jubilee will be held on Sunday 18 September. The programme starts at 10am with a Festival Eucharist, presided over by Bishop Ebenezer Ntlali, Bishop of Grahamstown. This will be followed at the Sidbury Sports Club at 12.30pm by guest speaker, renowned wildlife vet and St Peter’s parishioner Dr. William Fowlds, among other entertainment. Full details and directions available on the website: http://sidbury175.wordpress. com