Your guide to Heidelberg Gauteng
#Klipkerk
Heritage Blue Plaque #Nr 7
KLIPKERK - 57 HF Verwoerd Street
What is the story here?
The NG and NH churches united in 1888, which was then known as the United church. Many disputes arose. Over the building of the new church, demolition of the old Kruiskerk , ownership and the naming of the new church arose. In 1889, a new church plan was approved seating 800 people (originally 600). Architects were Brislen and Veale. Builder was Mr JB Kirton at a cost of 15 000 pounds. Norman design like the churches found in England and Scotland.
After the Boer war, the cellar was used as a primary school and started with 24 war orphans and some of the congregation’s children. The tower collapsed in 1909. It happened a few hours after the minister Ds AJ Louw and some of his church council members had been up in the tower to inspect some cracks that had appeared. Rev. Louw was sitting at the lunch table two blocks away, heard a crash and said “Daar val die toring”. (there goes the tower). The cause of the collapse was identified as bad workmanship and three days of continuous rain. A new tower was constructed and inaugurated by JD Kestell in 1911.
THE HISTORY OF THE KLIPKERK AND REVEREND NICOLAAS VAN WARMELO
THE ORIGINAL KRUISKERK AND THE UNITED CHURCH DISPUTES (1867 - 1898)
The foundational structure of the Dutch Reformed faith in Heidelberg was a cruciform-shaped building known as the "Kruiskerk." Constructed by town founder H.J.F. Ueckermann on the site of the modern-day parking lot, the building was described by historical commentator T.F. Carter as a "very sturdy, plainly built brick building built in a cruciform shape which one might mistake for a barn."
In 1888, the Nederduitsch Hervormde (NH) and Nederduitsche Gereformeerde (NG) congregations voted to merge, operating under the title of the United Church. This union immediately sparked intense internal conflict regarding the architecture of a new sanctuary, the demolition of the old Kruiskerk, property ownership, and the final naming of the church. In 1889, church leadership approved an expanded architectural layout designed by Brislen and Veale to seat 800 worshippers, a significant increase from the originally proposed 600 seats.
The building contract was awarded to Mr J.B. Kirton at a cost of £15,000. He utilized a historic Norman design reminiscent of traditional stone churches found across England and Scotland. Commandant-General P.J. Joubert officially laid the cornerstone on 12 April 1890, and the formal inauguration service took place on 13 March 1891.
The unification quickly splintered, forcing a controversial division of shared ecclesiastical property. Local negotiations collapsed entirely, and a personal arbitration attempt by President Paul Kruger failed to secure peace.
The standoff was finally resolved by the Supreme Court in 1897. The court allocated the newly constructed stone building - henceforth known as the "Klipkerk" - to the United Church faction, while awarding the parsonage (pastorie) to the breakaway NH congregation. The original Kruiskerk, which was omitted from the court's final judgment, was demolished in 1898, and the land has remained the property of the NG Church ever since.
The ecclesiastical split created a strange domestic division within the parsonage. The minister of the United Church, Reverend Nicolaas van Warmelo, chose to remain with the unified congregation. However, his wife and daughters formally broke away to join the dissenting NH faction, with Mrs van Warmelo serving as the organist for her husband's theological rivals.
REVEREND NICOLAAS JACOBUS VAN WARMELO (1835 - 1892)
Nicolaas Jacobus van Warmelo was born in Gouda, Netherlands, on 8 September 1835, where his father served as a minister to the Nederduitsche Hervormde Church. He completed his secondary education at the local Latin school in Gouda before studying theology at the University of Leiden from 1853 to 1858. During his university years, he studied under Professor J.H. Scholten, a prominent groundbreaker of contemporary Dutch liberal theology.
Following his graduation, a massive surplus of ministers in the Netherlands left Van Warmelo without a congregation. In August 1862, he sailed for South Africa with the intention of joining the Nederduitsch Gereformeerde Church. However, the Cape Church had recently instituted a mandatory colloquium doctum (theological entrance examination) for all foreign candidates, a requirement to which Van Warmelo strongly objected.
While stranded in Cape Town, he met Reverend G.W. Smits of the Rustenburg NH Church, who persuaded him to accept a vacant post in the Zoutpansberg region. Van Warmelo briefly returned to the Netherlands to marry his first wife, Miss Josina van Vollenhoven, before traveling to Potchefstroom and advancing to Schoemansdal on 14 June 1864. This settlement represented the northernmost frontier of white occupation at the time.
He was formally inducted as the Zoutpansberg minister by Reverend Smits on 30 June 1864, quickly establishing a local church and school. During their time there, Josina produced detailed landscape drawings of the Schoemansdal parsonage and church.
Van Warmelo's frontier ministry was soon derailed by two major tragedies. His wife, Josina, passed away on 28 January 1865, just 11 months and 11 days after their wedding. Concurrently, escalating warfare and repeated attacks from local African tribal groups forced the evacuation of the settlement. Van Warmelo retreated to Marabastad alongside members of his displaced congregation before accepting a call to Heidelberg.
PIONEERING THE HEIDELBERG MINISTRY (1866 - 1880)
When Reverend Van Warmelo arrived in Heidelberg, the young town possessed no official clerical accommodation. The church board secured a temporary house from H.J.F. Ueckermann, paying a rental fee of £3-10-0 for the initial six months. On a winter communion evening on 18 July 1866, Van Warmelo was formally inducted by Reverend A.J. Begemann as the very first resident minister of Heidelberg.
He managed the congregation through its various organizational shifts until his death in 1892. When relocating from the north, Van Warmelo brought along the original church bell from the abandoned Schoemansdal congregation, on the strict understanding that it would be returned to the northern Transvaal whenever a parish was re-established there. The historic bell eventually became redundant, and its modern whereabouts remain unknown.
On 5 April 1867, Van Warmelo married Maria Magdalena Elizabeth Maré, the daughter of Dietlof Siegfried Maré (1850 - 1916), the former magistrate of the Zoutpansberg. The marriage produced five sons (two of whom died in infancy) and two daughters. Their youngest daughter, Johanna van Warmelo, later achieved prominence as a well-known South African author. Both the Reverend and his wife were accomplished musicians, proficient in playing the piano and the serafyn (an early variant of the reed organ).
By 17 July 1868, the church board accumulated sufficient funds to authorize the construction of a permanent parsonage. Van Warmelo partnered with Magistrate F.K. Maré to form an executive building commission to expedite the project.
In 1873, the Reverend took a multi-month leave of absence to visit the Netherlands. His congregation missed him so deeply that they dispatched a formal welcoming party to intercept his wagon an hour outside of town upon his return, and the sanctuary was packed to maximum capacity for his first return service the following Sunday.
In April 1877, Van Warmelo drafted plans to expand the parsonage, adding a dedicated study room that he referred to as his sanctum sanctorum where he could prepare his sermons in absolute isolation. Once the home was outfitted with custom furniture imported directly from the Netherlands, he boasted that he possessed the finest parsonage in the entire Transvaal - the very same building that would spark intense legal warfare after his death.
WAR TIME PREACHING AND THE RESIDENTIAL STANDOFF (1880 - 1893)
In 1880, following the British annexation of the Transvaal, the occupying government issued a strict proclamation banning large public gatherings. Defying the ban, Transvaal burghers assembled en masse at Paardekraal near Krugersdorp on 8 December 1880. On Sunday, 12 December, Reverend Van Warmelo was the only minister who answered the call to spiritual arms. He delivered a powerful sermon to the gathered forces, rallying divine support for their impending war of independence. Throughout the brief First Anglo-Boer War, he traveled extensively to preach to the active commandos, celebrating with them following their decisive victory at the Battle of Majuba.
Reverend Van Warmelo passed away in 1892 while actively trying to negotiate a peaceful reunion between the two fractured church factions. Following his death, his widow flatly refused to vacate the parsonage, remaining entrenched in the home for another ten years. This standoff forced the congregation to construct an entirely new residence for his pastoral successor, Reverend A.J. Louw.
STRUCTURAL DISASTERS AND MODERN RENOVATIONS (1902 - 2018)
Following the Second Anglo-Boer War, the secure cellar of the Klipkerk was repurposed as an elementary school, opening its doors to 24 war orphans and several local children.
The church suffered a major disaster in 1909 when its main stone tower completely collapsed. The structural failure occurred just a few hours after the minister, Reverend A.J. Louw, and members of his church council had climbed the tower to inspect several deep fissures that had developed in the masonry. Reverend Louw was sitting at his lunch table two blocks away when he heard the structural failure, famously remarking, "Daar val die toring" (There goes the tower). An investigation cited substandard original workmanship compounded by three days of continuous, torrential rain as the direct causes of the collapse. A new tower was constructed and officially inaugurated by the revered Reverend J.D. Kestell in 1911.
The interior layout was modernized in 1954. Total seating capacity was increased via the installation of a new elevated gallery, and the original massive stone pulpit was disassembled and replaced by a smaller wooden design. The historic stone pulpit was transferred to Hoër Volkskool, where it remains today.
The unified congregation officially dropped the historical "United Church" title in 1959, an event commemorated by a stone plaque mounted inside the entrance hall.
In 1967, a catastrophic interior fire caused severe smoke and structural damage to the sanctuary. The building underwent a massive R33,000 restoration project, which included extensive exterior repairs and the installation of a brand-new custom pipe organ.
The church's historic auditory landscape was fully restored in 2018. After sitting completely silent for at least 50 years, the building's historic clockwork mechanisms and bells were fully repaired and restored to operational service, funded by a generous German donor.
Ref: "Geskiedenis van die Ned. Geref. Gemeente" by Dr A.E. Bosman, "Geskiedenis van Heidelberg" by J.J. Smit, unpublished archival manuscripts of Reverend Noel Roberts, and "150 Jaar van Genade." Photographic records curated by Lille McGregor and the Anglo-Boer War Museum.
