Page 74 - Bulletin 12 2008

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If the presence of churches can be seen as an indicator of ‘villagehood’, then Wynberg
can take pride of place with its Dutch church from 1829, followed by an Anglican

church in 1832 and a Methodist one in 1852. Yet Wynberg grew almost entirely
organically, without in any way having been laid out formally.

The village developed on, and derives its name from, the farm De Oude Wynberg
granted in 1683 by Simon van der Stel to Herman Weekens. The name probably refers

to an old vineyard (planted by Van Riebeeck) rather than to the Wynberg Hill which
was then known as Bosheuvel. The farm passed through the hands of several owners,

including Simon van der Stel himself and his son, and with its various deductions its
history then becomes too complex to be related here. But it is of interest to note that the

original Oude Wynberg homestead stood on the exact spot where the well-known

manor house of Hawthornden stands today, in Herschel Walk, and is probably still part
of its fabric. Another, smaller homestead survives, on a subdivision of the old farm: that

of Kleine Oude Wynberg, now known as Osborne House, one of the houses in the old

village.

A little hamlet grew up where the old wagon-road (not then following the course of the
present main road but roughly that of Aliwal and Wolfe streets) crossed a stream known

as Krakeel Water (‘noisy stream’). By 1805 there was a small military camp here, to
become a permanent camp in 1809, which contributed to the growth of the hamlet.

Small grants were made to private individuals who built cottages on them. By now a

little village had sprung up and in 1822 Lord Charles Somerset could write: “At
Wynberg there are many pretty villas, and it is extremely cool and sheltered from the

South-east winds, in summer it is much resorted to, indeed it may be justly called the
Richmond of the Cape.” (In this observation Somerset probably also included the

adjacent villa precincts of what is today upper Kenilworth.) On the campsite, too,
officers built cottages, and on Thibault’s plan of 1813 a row of them, parallel and neatly

aligned, are shown hard-up along the western boundary of Kleine Oude Wynberg. Why

here? On camp property but on its very periphery? Was the development of a small
village, of which they could become part, already foreseen? It started growing when