Page 33 - Bulletin 18 2014

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Delbridge Properties and Impact on the area

Among land owned by the family was a 36 morgen (30 hectares / 76 acres) farm at

Baviaanskloof, Simon’s Town. Closer to home was 10 acres (4.3 hectares) of land described
as ‘off Clairvaux Road’ and ‘on the mountainside’ in 1915. (Fig. 1.28.) They owned land on

the Mayville Estate at Clovelly and a large lot that ran in a strip around the mountain from
Kalk Bay. Council had plans for roads and houses and an extension of Boyes Drive along this

strip. It had been a speculative buy but sold for only £110 at auction in 1944.

In 1895, the Delbridges opened a quarry on Elsie’s Peak above Fish Hoek. (Fig. 1.29.) From

The Fish Hoek Quarry: A Viable Future for History Neglected by G A Randle we find:

“Mr. Delbridge had located the specific type of stone that he desired on the

site…Delbridge would have been looking for a stone that was soft, appropriately
coloured and easily workable.

Many older homes between Fish Hoek and Lakeside are built from stone from this

quarry. It was especially useful for flagstones, as it was soft and permeable,

facilitating an excellent shine after polishing, as well as easy maintenance.”

It is believed that the platform at Muizenberg Station was paved with stone from this quarry.
It was also used in a housing development in Plumstead and in the Cummings Hall at

Wellington.

At the quarry site tracks were laid down, a donkey-powered winch installed, a gunpowder

store, a dam and other small structures built. The stone was blasted out, dressed on site and
then sent down the trolley track to a site near today’s traffic circle at the end of Fish Hoek.

From there it was either taken by ox wagon to local building sites or loaded on to a train. A

spur had been built from Fish Hoek station to a siding about where the beach ticket office is
today. (Fig. 1.30.)

From Clovelly northwards are many buildings in which the Delbridges had a hand. (Figs.

1.31 & 1.32.) In 1907 John Delbridge had bought a large plot running from Windsor to St.
John’s Road, Kalk Bay and had had plans for cottages drawn by his son. Nothing seems to