Wynberg, Cape Town
Encyclopedia
Wynberg is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town
in Western Cape
, South Africa
. It is situated between Plumstead
and Kenilworth
, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs
of Cape Town.
to the north and Plumstead
to the south east, Constantia
is situated to its west. Wynberg railway station is on the main line from Cape Town to Simon's Town
. Main Road (which runs from Central Cape Town through to Simon's Town) runs through Wynberg, and the suburb can also be accessed from the M3
freeway which skirts the west of the Neighborhood close to the Wynberg Military Base.
, 11.93% Indian/Asian, 29.83% White and 0% from other races.
In the suburb the population was spread out with 24.67% under the age of 18, 29.94% from 18 to 34, 25.65% from 35 to 54, 8.74% from 55 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 85.44 males.
77.69% of the population speak English
, 15.34% speak Afrikaans
, 4.45% speak Xhosa
, 1.59% speak another African language and 0.92% some other language as a first language.
supplied the Dutch East India Company
, was sold to Herman Weeckens. The farm was named De Oude Wjinbergh (Old Wine Mountain). The Cape's rough seas in the winter months led to a formal winter anchorage in 1743 where ships would dock at Simons' Baai (present day Simons Town). A wagon route linking Cape Town to Simons Town went over the hill adjacent to De Oude Wjinbergh estate.
When the British took control of the Cape settlement on 16 Sept 1795 the small farming area of Wynberg developed rapidly into a garrison town, as the British settled a large number of troops in the area. A notable settler was Alexander Tennant
who built a house still standing, named Sonnebloem. At Wynberg the Dutch had earlier made a show of resistance, but they were soon driven from their post by the British. Wynberg was a convenient half way point between Table Bay
and False Bay
and this led to a hub of commercial activity. The authorities had allotted places where large teams of oxen could be unyoked and graze which made this possible. The village provided farmers with an alternative to the market in Cape Town. As more farms were subdivided commercial and residential properties began to increase.
The famous astronomer John Herschel
lived at Wynberg between 1834 and 1838, where he set up a telescope to study the southern hemispehere skies, and also did some botanical work on South African flowers together with his wife Margaret. In was at Wynberg that the young Charles Darwin
met Herschel in 1836, a meeting which considerably influenced Darwin's later work.
Battswood School was established in 1891 by Martha Grey
. Martha was a local coloured woman, born at the time of the emancipation of slavery in 1838. The school was closed and the property sold by the Dutch Mission Church in 1997, it was officially re-opened in Ottery, Cape Town
, a few kilometres from Wynberg by ex-President Mandela in 2001.
, on the hillside above the main village, is the second oldest school in South Africa, having been established in 1841. It is located on Hawthornden Estate alongside the former stately home of Prince Labia. The Junior School is housed in Victorian buildings in Cape Town designed by acclaimed architect Sir Herbert Baker.
There are two prominent all-girls schools in the area: Wynberg Girls' High School
is located near the village, whilst the Springfield Convent School is a Catholic school situated close to Wynberg Boys' High School
.
, De Oude Wynberg, was selected. From 1804 the military took increasing interest in this strategic location. Tennant sold 78 morgen
to the Cape
government in March 1809; while the British Secretary at War
acquired a further 54 morgen
in June 1886. December 1921 saw the transfer of the all the land, property and buildings to the government of the Union of South Africa
.
A rock behind 2 Military Hospital bears an inscription recording the dates when the 59th Regiment (2nd East Lancashire) formed part of the Cape garrison: 1806, 1859–61, 1911-14.
The Officer
s' Mess
was declared a Provincial Heritage Site.
The Royal Cape Golf Club, South Africa's oldest club, had its beginning on 14 November 1885 when Lt Gen
Sir Henry Torrens
, Governor
of the Cape Colony
chaired a meeting at the Cape Town Castle
"for the purpose of introducing the game of golf
and starting a club for the same". It was on Waterloo Green at the Wynberg Military Camp that the Club established its first home. The layout of the course is not known and it is certain that playing conditions at their best were rough and ready.
City of Cape Town
The City of Cape Town is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of 2007, it had a population of 3,497,097....
in Western Cape
Western Cape
The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. It is situated between Plumstead
Plumstead, Cape Town
Plumstead is a suburb in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, situated on the western margin of the Cape Flats, within the municipality of the City of Cape Town- History :...
and Kenilworth
Kenilworth, Cape Town
- Geography :Kenilworth is bordered by Wynberg to the south and Claremont to the north. Kenilworth railway station is on the main line from Cape Town to Simon's Town...
, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs
Southern Suburbs, Cape Town
The Southern Suburbs are a group of suburbs in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. This group includes Rondebosch, Claremont, Plumstead, Ottery, Wynberg, Newlands, Constantia and Bishopscourt, and to some aspects Pinelands and Observatory too....
of Cape Town.
Geography
Wynberg is bordered by KenilworthKenilworth, Cape Town
- Geography :Kenilworth is bordered by Wynberg to the south and Claremont to the north. Kenilworth railway station is on the main line from Cape Town to Simon's Town...
to the north and Plumstead
Plumstead, Cape Town
Plumstead is a suburb in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, situated on the western margin of the Cape Flats, within the municipality of the City of Cape Town- History :...
to the south east, Constantia
Constantia, Cape Town
Constantia is an affluent suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, situated about 15 kilometres south of the centre of Cape Town. The Constantia Valley lies to the east of and at the foot of the Constantiaberg mountain. Constantia Nek is a low pass linking to Hout Bay in the west.-History:Constantia is...
is situated to its west. Wynberg railway station is on the main line from Cape Town to Simon's Town
Simon's Town
Simon's Town , sometimes spelled Simonstown; is a town in South Africa, near Cape Town which is home to the South African Navy. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been an important naval base and harbour...
. Main Road (which runs from Central Cape Town through to Simon's Town) runs through Wynberg, and the suburb can also be accessed from the M3
M3 (Cape Town)
The M3 is an expressway in Cape Town, South Africa, connecting the upper part of the City Bowl to the Southern Suburbs and ending in Tokai. For most of its route it parallels - though further to the south and west - the M4 , which was the original road connecting central Cape Town with the...
freeway which skirts the west of the Neighborhood close to the Wynberg Military Base.
Demographics
As of the census of 2001, there were 4,417 households and 12,821 people residing in the suburb. The racial makeup of the suburb was 8.42% Black African, 49.82% ColouredColoured
In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers to an heterogenous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, various Khoisan and Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaya, India, Mozambique,...
, 11.93% Indian/Asian, 29.83% White and 0% from other races.
In the suburb the population was spread out with 24.67% under the age of 18, 29.94% from 18 to 34, 25.65% from 35 to 54, 8.74% from 55 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 85.44 males.
77.69% of the population speak English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, 15.34% speak Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, 4.45% speak Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
, 1.59% speak another African language and 0.92% some other language as a first language.
History
In 1683 land belonging to one of the Freeburgers, whose farms along the Liesbeek RiverLiesbeek River
The Liesbeek River is a river in Cape Town in South Africa. It is named after a small river in Holland. The first "free burghers" of the Dutch East India Company were granted land to farm along the river in 1657, shortly after the first Dutch settlers arrived in the Cape. The river was...
supplied the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
, was sold to Herman Weeckens. The farm was named De Oude Wjinbergh (Old Wine Mountain). The Cape's rough seas in the winter months led to a formal winter anchorage in 1743 where ships would dock at Simons' Baai (present day Simons Town). A wagon route linking Cape Town to Simons Town went over the hill adjacent to De Oude Wjinbergh estate.
When the British took control of the Cape settlement on 16 Sept 1795 the small farming area of Wynberg developed rapidly into a garrison town, as the British settled a large number of troops in the area. A notable settler was Alexander Tennant
Alexander Tennant
Alexander Tennant, born in Ochiltree, Ayrshire in 1772, was a leading British colonist in the Cape Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, an enterprising merchant, a brother to industrialist Charles Tennant and a friend of Robbie Burns.- Early life :...
who built a house still standing, named Sonnebloem. At Wynberg the Dutch had earlier made a show of resistance, but they were soon driven from their post by the British. Wynberg was a convenient half way point between Table Bay
Table Bay
Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain.Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this...
and False Bay
False Bay
False Bay is a body of water defined by Cape Hangklip and the Cape Peninsula in the extreme South-West of South Africa.- Description and location :...
and this led to a hub of commercial activity. The authorities had allotted places where large teams of oxen could be unyoked and graze which made this possible. The village provided farmers with an alternative to the market in Cape Town. As more farms were subdivided commercial and residential properties began to increase.
The famous astronomer John Herschel
John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...
lived at Wynberg between 1834 and 1838, where he set up a telescope to study the southern hemispehere skies, and also did some botanical work on South African flowers together with his wife Margaret. In was at Wynberg that the young Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
met Herschel in 1836, a meeting which considerably influenced Darwin's later work.
Battswood School was established in 1891 by Martha Grey
Martha Grey
Martha Grey was born Martha Solomons in Cape Town, South Africa. She was the daughter of a freed slave named Rebecca and man from Wellington named Solomon...
. Martha was a local coloured woman, born at the time of the emancipation of slavery in 1838. The school was closed and the property sold by the Dutch Mission Church in 1997, it was officially re-opened in Ottery, Cape Town
Ottery, Cape Town
Ottery is a suburb in Cape Town, South Africa. It is on the edge of the Southern Suburbs. The Youngsfield Military Base, Royal Cape Golf Club and Cape Town's 'official' China Town are located in the suburb...
, a few kilometres from Wynberg by ex-President Mandela in 2001.
Tourist attractions
- Maynardville Park
- Wynberg ParkWynberg ParkWynberg Park formerly known as Kind Edward Park is situated in the southern suburb of Wynberg, Cape Town, South Africa....
- Dutch Reformed Church
Events
The Maynardville Community Chest Carnival takes place annually, usually at the end of February.Schools
Wynberg Boys' High SchoolWynberg Boys' High School
Wynberg Boys' High School is a public school for boys in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.It was founded in 1841 and is the second oldest school in South Africa. It had humble beginnings in Glebe Cottage under first Headmaster John McNaughton and changed site three times before moving onto its...
, on the hillside above the main village, is the second oldest school in South Africa, having been established in 1841. It is located on Hawthornden Estate alongside the former stately home of Prince Labia. The Junior School is housed in Victorian buildings in Cape Town designed by acclaimed architect Sir Herbert Baker.
There are two prominent all-girls schools in the area: Wynberg Girls' High School
Wynberg Girls' High School
Wynberg Girls' High School is a public school for girls in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.Founded in 1884, Wynberg Girls High School is one of the oldest all girls schools in South Africa. The first headmistress, Miss Margaret Stewart, was supported by two teachers and catered to 27 pupils...
is located near the village, whilst the Springfield Convent School is a Catholic school situated close to Wynberg Boys' High School
Wynberg Boys' High School
Wynberg Boys' High School is a public school for boys in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.It was founded in 1841 and is the second oldest school in South Africa. It had humble beginnings in Glebe Cottage under first Headmaster John McNaughton and changed site three times before moving onto its...
.
Wynberg Military Base
The military base was established in 1804 following the report of a commission appointed to find a suitable base for the 'Hottentot Corps'. The farm of Alexander TennantAlexander Tennant
Alexander Tennant, born in Ochiltree, Ayrshire in 1772, was a leading British colonist in the Cape Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, an enterprising merchant, a brother to industrialist Charles Tennant and a friend of Robbie Burns.- Early life :...
, De Oude Wynberg, was selected. From 1804 the military took increasing interest in this strategic location. Tennant sold 78 morgen
Morgen
A morgen was a unit of measurement of land in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from 1/2 to 2½ acres, which equals approximately 0.2 to 1 ha...
to the Cape
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
government in March 1809; while the British Secretary at War
Secretary at War
The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. It was occasionally a cabinet level position, although...
acquired a further 54 morgen
Morgen
A morgen was a unit of measurement of land in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from 1/2 to 2½ acres, which equals approximately 0.2 to 1 ha...
in June 1886. December 1921 saw the transfer of the all the land, property and buildings to the government of the Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
.
A rock behind 2 Military Hospital bears an inscription recording the dates when the 59th Regiment (2nd East Lancashire) formed part of the Cape garrison: 1806, 1859–61, 1911-14.
The Officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
s' Mess
Mess
A mess is the place where military personnel socialise, eat, and live. In some societies this military usage has extended to other disciplined services eateries such as civilian fire fighting and police forces. The root of mess is the Old French mes, "portion of food" A mess (also called a...
was declared a Provincial Heritage Site.
The Royal Cape Golf Club, South Africa's oldest club, had its beginning on 14 November 1885 when Lt Gen
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Sir Henry Torrens
Henry Torrens
Lieutenant General Sir Henry D'Oyley Torrens KCB KCMG was a British army officer and colonial governor. He was born in Meerut, India, the son of Henry Whitelocke Torrens and Eliza Mary Roberts and died in London....
, Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
chaired a meeting at the Cape Town Castle
Castle of Good Hope
The Castle of Good Hope is a star fort which was built on the original coastline of Table Bay and now, because of land reclamation, lies nearer to the Cape Town city centre in South Africa.-History:...
"for the purpose of introducing the game of golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
and starting a club for the same". It was on Waterloo Green at the Wynberg Military Camp that the Club established its first home. The layout of the course is not known and it is certain that playing conditions at their best were rough and ready.