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transport of rock from the quarry to be used in construction of Simon’s Town’s East
Dockyard. (Figs. 3.9 – 3.11).

Some of the stone may have been used for building purposes, particularly in the case of

the kerbstones and gutter stones in Simon’s Town, which are composed of quartzitic

sandstone containing rare quartz pebbles indicative of having been sourced from the
Peninsula Formation.

Glencairn Quarry

Glencairn Quarry was working between 1896 and 1978 and exploited quartzitic

sandstone of the Peninsula Formation for concrete aggregate, railway ballast and road

material. (Fig. 3.12; Wybergh, 1932; Theron, 1984b). Until the 1950s rail trucks were
able to cross Main Road on a spur and run in under a shute on the mountain side of the

road to fill up with crushed stone. A small quantity of stone may have been used for

building purposes locally and in the post-1940 structures in Cape Town, such as the
pedestal and plinth of the Maria de la Quellerie statue in Heerengracht, since all other

local quarries in the Peninsula Formation had been abandoned by that time. (Cole,
2002).

Fish Hoek Quarry

Fish Hoek Quarry is located on Elsies Peak immediately south of the town and was
operated by Delbridge and Co. between 1895 and 1905. (Cobern, 1984). (Fig. 3.13). It

was excavated into the Peninsula Formation, but the rock is not the ubiquitous quartzitic
sandstone. Instead, it comprises a thinly-bedded, 2 m-thick, fine- to medium-grained,

horizontally-bedded sandstone. (Fig. 3.14). This was blasted, cut and dressed at the
quarry for use as floor tiles, slasto and flagstone (Cobern, 1984). These were transported

down to Fish Hoek on a tramline, the end of which was located near the present traffic

circle at the top of Main Road. Stones that were used locally were transported away by
wagon, but those destined for more distant markets were taken to a siding at Fish Hoek