In October 1827, the Bishop of Calcutta, on a visit to Cape Town, which was at the time a distant outpost of his diocese, discussed building an Anglican church.

Up until that time, the Anglican community used the Cape Town Castle for services, later being offered hospitality by the Groote Kerk.

(In December 1819 missionaries Robert and Mary Moffat were married at "St Georges Church, Cape Town".

[7] Upon diplomat Edmund Roberts visit in 1834, George Hough was chaplain and the church had a capacity of 1,000 people with 300 seats for the poor.

[7] On 17 May 1874, William West Jones was ordained second bishop and metropolitan of Cape Town (almost 25 years later he was elevated to archbishop) and by 1887 the diocesan synod had appointed a committee to collect money for a new cathedral but it was not until 22 August 1901 that the Duke of Cornwall and York (later to become King George V) laid the foundation stone bearing the letters AMDG Latin: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, lit.

Paradoxically, this is the only visible instance of these letters which are chiselled on the inward-facing surface of each and every stone in the cathedral, a custom dating from ancient times.

Work continued slowly but it was not until 1930 that the memorial stone for the north transept was laid by the Earl of Athlone, then Governor-General of the Union of South Africa.

[10] Desmond Tutu, the first black archbishop of South Africa, led numerous marches and campaigns for the formal end of apartheid from the front steps of St George's cathedral.

[13] The bells made the return journey to Cape Town only to languish in the cathedral car park for some time.

The bells were named by Joost de Blank, a former archbishop of Cape Town: Joy, Love, Peace, Faith, Charity, Service, Patience, Sacrifice, Redemption, and Good Hope.

The most recent glass is his Christ in Triumph over Darkness and Evil in the great west window in memory of Earl Mountbatten.

Over the south transept is the rose window and in the centre, Christ in Majesty, clothed in purple, the colour of the passion and, radiating outwards, cherubim and seraphim, the angels, and the apostles, prophets, martyrs and saints.

Before entering the aisle you will see a plaque, commemorating the visit to the cathedral of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in March 1995.

Below are the modern pioneers and heroes of the continent from right to left, Charles Mackenzie, bishop of Nyasaland, Angela Burdett-Coutts who endowed the bishopric of Cape Town.

Around the central panel are ten lights like the petals of a rose, showing alternatively in red and blue seraphim and cherubim.

These are the highest order of the angels all face inwards - with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious name.

If you think of the face of a clock, the section between 9 and 12 is the glorious company of the apostles from 12 to 3 the goodly fellowship of the prophets, between 3 and 6 the noble army of martyrs and lastly the saints of the Holy Church throughout the world.

Both the pulpit and lectern are from the old cathedral and were presented in memory of the wreck of the mail ship SS Drummond Castle, which sank off Ushant on 16 June 1896.

The high altar is of black marble, inlaid on the upper surface with five mosaic crosses brought from Jerusalem by Dean Charles Barnett-Clarke.

Above the high altar is a suspended rood, at the foot of the crucified Christ are the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John.

Surrounding the central figures is a symbolic treatment of the burning bush of Moses, its stem shows as the tree of knowledge, with the lilies of the Virgin and the vine of the Eucharist above the red cross of sacrifice and triumph is superimposed on the whole.

This chapel is Situated to the right of the Sanctuary, as you enter you will see the Canterbury stone- a block of Caen stone used in the earliest Norman section of that Great Cathedral.

The paneled teak Reredos commemorates Archbishop William Marlborough Carter and bears his private arms and those of Eton and Pembroke College where he received his education.

An inscription in gilt records the main events of his life and the words Lord I have loved the habitation of Thy house are a reminder that his devotion to St George's laid the foundations of the Cathedral.

The windows in the chapel were donated by the West Jones Family and were installed in 1910 and 1911, they came from the studios of Kempe&Co.Ltd and were the work of their chief designer John Lisle.

The East Window above the altar has two lights and Depicts the Lord's commission to St Peter and to all Bishops as Shepherds of Souls and pastors of his flock.