Modderpoort

Modderpoort, also known as Lekhalong la Bo Tau or ‘The Pass of the Lions’, is the site in the eastern Free State, South Africa, where the Anglican Missionary Brotherhood, the Brotherhood of St Augustine of Hippo, was established by Bishop Edward Twells in the late 1860s. It is also associated with the BaSotho prophetess Mantsopa, while the ‘sacred landscape’ in the vicinity includes San rock painting sites.

Bishop Twells of Bloemfontein purchased the farms Modderpoort and Modderpoort Spruit in 1865 as a base for missionary work in the area. The property was situated within the so-called ‘Conquered Territory’ lost by the BaSotho through conquest in the years 1843-1869. It was in fact not before 1869 that Canon Henry Beckett, the Superior of the Society of St Augustine, accompanied by four brothers, set up the mission, initially in a cave converted as church and dwelling (see below).

In 1871 the Priory was built while the sandstone Chapel, badly damaged in a mountain fire, was enlarged and rededicated in 1903. Meanwhile Modderpoort had been taken over, in 1902, by the Anglican Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM). Alongside the Priory is the cemetery, containing inter alia the graves of the Anglican Brothers who served at Modderpoort. Their graves are capped with beautifully carved sandstone which was quarried from the surrounding hills (the sandstone for the Union Buildings in Pretoria came from the same source). The sparrow that features in some of the carvings has reference to St Matthew 10:29-30.

By 1928, the SSM had established a School and a Training College for black teachers. Both these institutions were closed down in 1955, however, following the introduction of Apartheid and the implementation of the Bantu Education Act of 1953. Alumni from Modderpoort include Winkie Direko, a Premier of the Free State Province.

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