Page 141 - KBHA BULLETIN 24

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Along Main Road from Kimberley to Colyn Road

Sir John Molteno bought Kimberley House in 1876 for £415. (Fig. 3.51). It is easy to assume that

the house and road next to it were named for the Kimberley diamond mines but it is almost certain
that it was named for the Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Kimberley, who had approved the call

led by Molteno for responsible government at the Cape in 1872.

Kimberley Road remains steep and narrow but for a long time it was the only access road up to

the few new houses that were built on what became Upper Quarterdeck Road. (Fig. 3.52).

Dalebrook Road

Dalebrook House was built in 1872 as the home of those good ladies Harriet and Charlotte
Humphries, and they lived there with Alice Pocklington until 1877. But the origin of the name

remains obscure.

Over the years the property changed hands several times and various alterations were done. It was
being run as a hotel when, on the 4 January 1918, a fire started in the thatched roof. Driven by a

south-easter the fire took hold and Dalebrook House burnt to the ground. Being holiday season it

was full but fortunately no one was hurt.

The subsequent sale and sub-division of the property gave Council the opportunity to build

Dalebrook Road through the middle of the original erf. It terminated against the ‘cliff-edge’ of the
rock shelf that ran from Quarterdeck Road and on which Holy Trinity Church also sits. The land

on either side was divided into 10 separate erven and sold off. Dalebrook House was replaced by

Innisfail Hotel. (Figs. 3.53 & 3.54).

Rosmead Road

It is uncertain why this was called Rosmead Road. Perhaps it was named for Sir Hercules

Robinson, Governor of the Cape 1881 – 1897, who was appointed Lord Rosmead in 1896. Perhaps
it was named for the skirmish when British troops overran the village of Rosmead near Middelburg

in November 1899? (Figs. 3.55 & 3.56).

For years, in the early 1900s, Gamdoel Slamdien and Daniel Avontuur brought their horses up this

street from the Main Road – to the stables they owned at numbers 10 and 14. Like other streets in