Church History

Holy Trinity is an Anglican church in Kalk Bay, Cape Town which falls within the Diocese of False Bay. 

Its origins date back to 1845, when a small chapel served the local community.The early chapel was used by fishermen, whalers and people involved in burning shells to produce lime for building.

Services in the original chapel were initially conducted in Dutch. The present Holy Trinity Church was built in the nineteenth century.

The foundation stone was laid on 23 August 1873. The church was consecrated on 29 September 1874, on the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. Holy Trinity celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2024.

Three women played a major role in funding and establishing the church: Harriet Humphreys, her sister Charlotte Humphreys, and Alice Pocklington. They raised approximately £1,500 for the construction of the church.

The church was designed by the English architect Henry Woodyer. Woodyer based the design on St Raphael’s Church near Bristol, which he had also designed.

The sandstone used to build Holy Trinity was quarried locally from the mountainside above Kalk Bay. The building has remained substantially unchanged since the nineteenth century and is regarded as an important heritage structure.

The church has a historic lychgate dating from about 1875, described as the oldest lychgate in South Africa. A lychgate was traditionally a covered gateway where a coffin could rest before a funeral service.

The church has a historic cemetery, which was closed in the early twentieth century under government regulations. Its marble baptismal font was donated by George John Nicholls in memory of his daughters Emma and Madeline, who drowned at St James in 1874.

The entrance stained-glass window was installed in 2011 to commemorate Kalk Bay's fishing community and its importance to the life of the church. The three founding women also contributed greatly to the wider Kalk Bay community, helping to establish a school, rectory, orphanage and cottage hospital.

The area is frequented by tourists, from which the Mother City derives its main source of income.