By Tabisa Mntengwana
28 May 2009

MISSIONARIES and ministers, pastors and reverends – these men of God were among the many people who made Buffalo City their home in its early years.

Flocking to the area throughout the 1800s, they brought with them their teachings and their passions, founding various places of worship and mission stations. Among them are the Missionary Museum, John Brownlee Mission, Peelton Mission, Mount Coke Mission, Southernwood Mission and Pirie Mission.

Today the Missionary Museum, the building was originally a Methodist Chapel with a foundation stone laid by Reverend William Shaw in 1855. The church subsequently became a Baptist Church.

It was finally handed over to the Amathole Museum to be administered as a Missionary Museum, tracing the history of Christianity in the district.

Mission artefacts and the old Mount Coke printing press - on which the first Xhosa Bible was printed – are among its collections.

The Missionary Museum is on Berkeley Street, in King William’s Town, and is open on request with the museum’s director’s permission; contact 043 643 4502.

Established by Reverend John Brownlee for the London Missionary Society in 1826, this mission is on Prince Alfred Square in King William’s Town. The building was damaged in 1835 and repairs and additions had to be made.

Sir Harry Smith took it over during the establishment of King William’s Town as his residence. This stone structure is one of the oldest buildings in the town.

Peelton Mission is a spacious church established among the Imidange people of Peelton in 1848 by Reverend Richard Birt, also of the London Missionary Society.

The mission had eight cottages and a mission house. The original church, built of wattle and daub, was burnt down in 1850.

A quarter of a century later, in 1875, Birt and some of the first African Christians in the Peelton area raised funds to erect the present church, which has a boarding school for boys.

Dr WB Rubusana was one of the prominent Eastern Cape leaders who attended school at the mission. Birt died in 1892.

Peelton Mission is in Peelton Village, 13 kilometres from the capital of the Eastern Cape, Bhisho, on the Komga Road.

Established by Reverend William Shaw in 1825, in the territory of Chief Ndlambe, Mount Coke Mission was one of a chain of Wesleyan Methodist missions.

It was burnt down during the frontier wars in 1834 and again in 1846, and moved in 1948 to its present building. The mission was proclaimed a national monument in 1959. It has a hospital, a church and a number of cottages.

Southernwood Mission Church is now known as St Saviours Church. The mission school was founded in the late 1980s by Reverend E Place in the North End area of East London.

The church was built quite a few years earlier, however, and its foundation stone was laid with full Masonic honours in April 1903 by Dr CJ Egan and coins of the realm were placed under the stone. Missionary work died down over time and the place was used for church services only.

An apse was added in 1914 and in 1915 it became a separate parish. A new façade was constructed and a tower added in 1939.

With its Norman-style frontage, the church is in Southernwood. For viewings, call the administrator on 043 722 3842.

Pirie Mission was established by the Glasgow Missionary Society by John Ross in 1830. It was burnt down during the frontier wars in 1834, and was rebuilt in 1850. The mission is still in use.

The establishment was named after Reverend Alexander Pirie, one of the founders of the Glasgow Missionary Society.

It is on the R63 road, just before Dimbaza, near King William’s Town.