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History: This church was built by the Barry family in 1849 as an interdenominational chapel for the inhabitants of Port Beaufort.

Port Beaufort lies at the mouth of the Breede River. Here the little Barry church stands as a memorial to the busy industry that once flourished there.
In 1800 landdrost Faure of Swellendam strongly advised the authorities at the Cape that the mouth of the Breede River should be exploited to facilitate the conveyance of the products of the Overberg to Cape Town and in 1803 Dirk Gysbert van Reenen made equally strong representations. In 1817 Lord Charles Somerset had the estuary surveyed and gave his family name to the port, calling it Port Beaufort.
Attempts to use the estuary as a harbour had little success, but the arrival of Joseph Barry brought a change in the fortunes of Port Beaufort. He came to the Cape in 1819 as a young man of twenty-three. In 1822 he was awarded a tender to convey wheat and rice to the drought stricken inhabitants of the Overberg and delivered the consignment safely at Port Beaufort in the cutter Gloucester. He immediately realised the possibilities of trade through this port and established a shop there. In 1823 his brothers’ sons, John and Thomas, joined him. The firm of Barry & Nephews was established and developed into a powerful business concern with its headquarters at Swellendam. By means of their own as well as chartered ships, they imported all manner of goods via Port Beaufort and exported local products like aloe, fruit, hides, ostrich feathers and later, particularly wool. Indeed, the traffic became so heavy that the government declared it an open port and appointed a customs officer there.
Meanwhile a village developed on the heights above the harbour. Here the Barrys built a shop with a thatched roof and fine gables, warehouses and about twenty dwellings, and in 1849 Thomas Barry built an attractive little church with a thatched roof as an interdenominational chapel for the residents. Dr. Robertson, the Dutch Reformed Minister of Swellendam,. regularly came to hold services and administer the sacraments.
In the l8 the firm of Barry & Nephews began to decline on account of misfortunes and. altered circumstances, and in 1882 it ceased to exist. Together with the firm, Port Beaufort, as a port, came to an end. It was first sold to one Carlsson, and then to Ohlson of Ohlson’s Brewery. In 1917 Alfred Barry, grandson of Joseph Barry, regained possession of it.
When Port Beaufort was sold to Carlsson, Tom Barry, a son of Joseph, bought the church with a small piece of land round it and presented it to the Dutch Reformed congregation of Swellendam. In 1905 it was transferred to the congregation of Heidelberg. When Alfred Barry acquired Port Beaufort in 1917 he bought the church from the Heidelberg congregation and maintained it, but after his death it fell into disrepair. Through the efforts of Mr. Dennis Barry a trust was formed in 1955, the church and its pulpit were restored and their maintenance ensured.
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Construction Date: 1849
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