The Lutheran Church, Ramotswa in 1911 and in 2015

Sandy Grant | Wednesday July 15, 2015 17:59

 

Built in 1898, I believe, the church is one of the only three churches in the country to boast a tower and spirelet.

Surprisingly, the Ramotswa church tower enjoys unexpected similarities with the later LMS church at Bobonong. In other respects, however, the Ramotswa church is unique. No other church boasts such a steeply pitched roof, a balcony or a comparable pulpit. As with any other kind of building, churches change over the course of time, are repaired and altered.  Both the Ramotswa church and the very fine LMS church in Kanye, for instance, are tiling their floors – an ‘improvement’ about which I have some doubts although a conservation architect would be better placed to comment. Only rarely, however, are we able to compare a building as it was in the past and as it is today.

A glance at these two photos shows that sometime during the last 104 years, and for whatever reason, significant changes were made to the tower and that a decision was made to discard two of the three entrance doors.   If the building was originally unplastered, as appears to be the case from this photo, it is probable that these changes were effected when it was felt that exposed brickwork had to be protected.