WYNBERG

166 pp. Numerous b/w photographs and illustrations, portraits. Blue pictorial paper covered boards. Light edge wear to the right hand top and bottom corners of the front cover. 

Signed by Helen Robinson and dated December 2001, together with a dedication.

Extracts from Helen Robinsons book “Wynberg a Special Place”

From 1795 Britain and France were locked in war with one another and it was thus to Britain that the Stadtholder of Holland fled when his country was overrun by the forces of Napoleon. Apparently acting in a care-taker capacity for the Dutch East India Company, a British fleet arrived at Simon’s Bay in 1795 with orders to occupy the Cape settlement. This first period of occupation was military in character and the strategic position of Wynberg, midway between Cape Town and Simon’s Bay, was at once realised by the new rulers who stationed troops on hill at Wynberg. This camp became a focal point of commercial activity in the area and was responsible for the development of a small village which supplied services, commodities and accommodation to members of the garrison and visitors from the India station.

In the early days of the village (between 1810 – 1840) a number of tradespeople and a few general dealers lived and worked near to the military camp. In this period, the wagons and coaches which travelled from Cape Town to Simonstown stopped at Wynberg Inn on Durban Road to give the horses and passengers some rest on the uncomfortable journey.

By the 1840s the small village has been developed and extended as people began to settle in the Wynberg area. Several shop-keepers had set up businesses in Alphen Hill Road.

Durban Road continued to be the centre of commercial activity in the village and at least fourteen shops were situated there.

In the mid-twentieth century, the village on the hill once again experienced a restoration by the private sector after a period of decline. This time Wynberg attracted an artistic fraternity and many crafts were represented; graphic artists, painters, sign-writers, interior decorators, furniture designers, silk-screen and gold-leaf workers all settled there. They created an atmosphere which prompted the name Little Chelsea, conferred upon it by the local press rather than the inhabitants. Many of these artists and crafters worked from their homes as villagers had done in earlier days. Accommodation was at a premium after World War 2 and the particular appeal of the old village for creative artists encouraged a rapid resettlement of this hitherto run-down area. With their arrival, the first phase of reconstruction in the village had begun.

Bio:

Dr Robinson began her professional life as a theatre practitioner and a lecturer in drama and communication. She settled in Wynberg 35 years ago and has pursued her interest in its multicultural heritage since that time/ Her PhD thesis was published in 1998 with the title – Beyond the City Limits – People and Property at Wynberg. Her second book, entitled Wynberg – A Special Place, emphasizes the role which conservation has played, or failed to play, in preserving the heritage resources of Wynberg. Her other books include Shakespeare at Maynardville and The Villages of the Liesbeeck, which explores the role played by the river in the formation of the Southern Suburbs, as we know them today.

Source: https://oldwynbergvillagesociety.org/history/