From Waarburg to Matjieskuil: investigating an old Cape Farm

Abstract

Problems and misconceptions with regard to old Cape farms are often the result of assumptions made on the basis of the present names of those farms. The way farms are divided and added to and the crucial matter of which part contains the original name and the original buildings, result in these problems. In this article an investigation of the farm Matjieskuil, situated in the district of Paarl, serves as a case study to illustrate the danger of assumptions, but it also illustrates the wealth of information that can be exposed when archival sources are scrutinised. The focus of the article is on the ownership of the farm and the architecture of the manor house, as part of the total history of the farm Matjieskuil, previously known as Waarburg. The land was granted to Hercules van Loon in 1701, who called the farm Waarburg. Since then the sequence of owners, the variation of the size of the land, the farming activities and the history of buildings on the property have formed a story typical of the settlement at, and development of the Cape of Good Hope