Page 114 - Bulletin 21

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‘DIE LAND’ KALK BAY: A SOCIAL AND ARCHITECTURAL SOCIAL HISTORY

Steve Herbert

Introduction

The area of Kalk Bay known locally as Die Land has formed the heart of the Kalk Bay

fishing community from early times. Erf 89922 is a polygon of land, and one of the earliest

land grants in Kalk Bay. (Fig. 4.1.) Today it is bounded on the north by Clairvaux Road and
below by Harris Road; it extends beyond Ladan Road by one row of erven. Traditionally ‘Die

Land’ has referred to property above Harbour Road.

The names recorded on property title deeds held in the Deeds Office make it possible to trace
families and their histories and the buildings that have stood in Kalk Bay since they were

built. In the case of Die Land this has been difficult mainly because few properties were
owned by fishing families. Adding complexity is the fact that many of the houses on Die

Land were absorbed into the Fishermen’s Flats project, 1940 - 45. Most of the existing

buildings were demolished and it is a great pity that no one had the foresight to photograph
the entire area before the project started. This paper is an attempt to record a vital piece of

Kalk Bay history from the records that remain.

Early land owners

Erf 89922 (Die Land) has an interesting history, apart from the fact that it became the home

of the fishing community. In 1809 Henry Barnard ‘of Kalk Bay’ wrote to the Earl of Caledon,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope. He said that there was a piece

of ground ‘fit to produce corn which is now in a perfect wild state’ which he would like. It
was 3 morgen, 153 square roods (about 8 acres) in extent. Given that Die Land was known

for many years for good reason as the Sandblocks it seems that Barnard was working on the

basis that no one from Cape Town had seen or would see this potential corn farm. Without
further ado a 15 year quitrent grant was given to him and a year later, in 1811, Barnard

disposed of it to Pieter Lourens Cloete. In 1812 after a survey it was transferred on a

Perpetual Quitrent Grant to Jan Hendrik Muller and Hanno Geerts Timmer. In 1825 it was
bought by W D Jennings. (Fig. 4.2.)