The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel had voted £500 in 1820 for the erection of a church in Cape Town, this gift was declined by the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset.

However, while he was in England next year, he wrote to Lord Bathurst, the Secretary of State for War (who administered the colonies), asking him to obtain the £500 for Grahamstown, where there is a British Population of upwards of 3000 persons (including the Military) totally destitute of any place of Worship whatever, and under the circumstances that no assistance can be expected to be derived from its Inhabitants in the erection of a Church, they being all Settlers or Soldiers.

Sir George Cory thus summarizes the agreement entered into by these persons, and dated 9 September 1824: The walls from the foundations up to the height of the galleries to be 2ft.

Mr Gilbert was allowed to cut down any timber, quarry stone and take clay for bricks from the nearest Government land and to be paid Rds54,000 (£4,050).

[6] William Geary, the first Colonial Chaplain of Grahamstown (who was appointed and removed by Bathurst), reached the scene of his labours in February 1823.

The ordinance is an imposing document, " enacted by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof," and to "be judicially taken notice of by all Judges, Magistrates, and others without being specially pleaded."

This vestry was to be elected annually on the second Tuesday in March by "a general meeting of the male inhabitants of Graham's Town aforesaid, and of the parochial limits thereof, being members of, and holding communion with, the united Church of England and Ireland as by law established.

Governors and colonial chaplains and landdrosts obtaining communion vessels and Royal Engineers (they inspected the building of the church) and pew-rents and church ordinances and secretaries of state for war-it is a queer, mad sort of story[7] Robert Gray was consecrated as Bishop of Cape Town on St Peter's Day in 1847.

Plans were prepared for the tower and spire as part of a complete new building by Sir George Gilbert Scott, at that time the most notable leader of the Gothic revival.

He made a free gift to Grahamstown of the various plans and working details and the building of the "Public Clock Tower", as it was called, was carried through by the committee without employing a contractor.

After the reconciliation, the building was repaired and Webb began to collect funds for carrying the erection of a worthy cathedral one stage further.

The plans for the chancel were prepared by John Oldrid Scott while William White-Cooper acted as superintending architect and designed several of the fittings.

The sub-deanery is a modern four-bedroom house with adequate reception rooms, a very small study, a garage and its own entrance, backing on to the deanery.

The cathedral became the primary location for memorials to those fallen combatants of the conflicts between the original residents of the lands and the European settlers.

Nevertheless, the early days of the Anglican church in Grahamstown demonstrates the unstable nature of the relationship between the indigenous peoples and the settlers and the ongoing process of reconciliation in South Africa.

A quote from John Armstrong, the first bishop of Grahamstown attests to this controversial history: On the calm, quiet day, as we were travelling along so peacefully, the rumours of war could not but come back to us, as our drivers pointed out the spots where many a bitter struggle for life had taken place, and especially where a body of poor Sappers had been surprised and slaughtered by the Kafirs in the late war.

The bells, an octave cast by John Warner and Sons in London, were supplied complete with fittings and with a frame of English oak.

[citation needed] In 1902 remedial work was undertaken on the bell frame and fittings and a band was in training under the tuition of a "Cape Town expert", a Mr Stephens.

In 1903 the ringers were "Mr Lancaster (Captain), Dr Drury, Messrs G. Barnes, Charles Cory, Huntly and Walker".

In 1959 "Mr Eardley from Stoke-on-Trent ... fitted new ropes"[citation needed] and undertook sufficient maintenance to enable four bells to be rung.

The frame was designed by Dr Ray Ayres with pits for ten bells and was assembled in the tower by local labour guided by Dave Webster of Eayre and Smith and by Colin Lewis.

[12] The first peal on the ten was rung on 4 April 1998, conducted by Timothy G. Pett in 3 hours 19 minutes: Cambridge Surprise Royal.