Kuils River
Aka: De Boss, De Kuilen, De Cuylen, Kuilsrivier (Afrikaans)
Established: 1680
Location
Timeline
(In progress)
History
Early VOC days
Kuils River, about 25 km east of Cape Town, has a rich history spanning indigenous habitation, colonial outpost, farming village, and modern urban expansion. The area was originally inhabited by the San (hunter-gatherers) for millennia, with fossils and archaeological evidence showing early human presence, followed by the Khoikhoi pastoralists around 2,000 years ago, who grazed cattle and sheep along the Eerste and Kuils rivers, establishing temporary kraals.
European settlement began in the late 17th century under the Dutch East India Company (VOC). In 1680, Governor Simon van der Stel established a cattle post and refreshment station called De Boss (or De Kuijlen/De Cuylen), a halfway stop for travelers heading inland to fertile Stellenbosch and beyond.
"Op 8 Januarie 1680 het Simon van der Stel besluit om 'n eenvoudige huis ("een beknopte wooningh") by De Kuilen te laat bou. Dit moes in die eerste plek dien as uitspanning vir die Kompanjie se vee, maar ook as verblyfplek vir persone wat tussen die Kaap en Hottentots-Holland reis. In Maart 1680 is 'n bouplan vir die huis deur kommissaris Sybrant Abbema in die Politieke Raad goedgekeur. Die huis is opgerig tussen die Kuilsrivier en die riviertjie wat later bekend sou staan as die Bottelaryrivier. (see Google map location). Vroeg in 1681 was die bouery by De Kuilen afgehandel. Dit het bestaan uit 'n beknopte boerewoning van baksteen-en-kleimure, met 'n kraal groot genoeg vir 1200 skape daar agter. Drie veldwagters, bestaande uit 'n korporaal en twee soldate het die pos beset." (Vermaak)
Before the German farmers settled on the Cape Flats, Kuils River was the primary vegetable supplier in the Cape Colony. The long journey (by ox-wagon) to the Cape Town morning market usually began on Thursday afternoons. They would then rest at “Waaisand” (Goodwood), roughly halfway between Cape Town and the Kuils River area.
The name derives from the nearby Kuils River (about 30 km long, originating in the Durbanville Hills and flowing south to join the Eerste River and reach False Bay), with "kuils" meaning "pools" in Dutch/Afrikaans, referring to the river's natural stagnant pools, wetlands, and dams.
"The 'Kuilen' or pools (called in old Dutch the Cuylen), whose name is now corrupted into Kuils River, was the first outpost of the Company across the 'Flats.'" (Trotter, 1903)
In 1683, a clay-brick house and kraal were built, manned by a corporal and soldiers, despite challenges like floods and wildlife. By 1700, parts of De Kuijlen (including Leeuwenhof farm) were sold to private owners like Olof Bergh (a Swedish-Norwegian VOC servant who married Anna de Koning in 1678 and became the first private owner after his release from prison in 1688 for looting). This shifted the area toward farming: wheat, orchards, and vineyards emerged in the Bottelary Hills, laying foundations for Cape viticulture.
"Captain Olof Bergh had bought the old Company's station of De Kuilen across the flats (Kuils River). It was sold in 1701, together with 'Elsjes Kraal and a good large shed,' and considered to be 'about four hours from the Castle.' Elsjes Kraal is about twelve miles out; one has to imagine the bullock carts ploughing over the sand and the brushwood at three miles an hour. The Kuylen consisted only of 'an old homestead, with two fairly good sheds and an earthen kraal,' and certainly no trace of any old house is left." (Trotter, 1903)
Position of the original farmhouse.
"The Eastern Highway" with De Kuilen in the centre. n.d.
Late 1700s - mid 1800s
The Bergh family owned De Kuilen until 1763. Later farm changed hands many times, and by 1795 De Kuilen had already been split into various mostly vegetable farms. Kuils River's main produce was potatoes, cabbage, butter, eggs, milk, firewood, thatching reed, cattle and wine.
"Die algemene gevolgtrekking was dat die grond van die gebied ongeskik vir landboudoeleindes was, veral as gevolg van die wit sand wat van Valsbaai se kant oor die Vlakte gewaai en groot, verskuiwende duine veroorsaak het... Daar was talle pogings van regeringskant om die karige plantegroei te probeer beskerm." (Vermaak)
Mid 1800s - mid 1900s
The Cape Flats were notoriously difficult to traverse due to deep, loose sand. Early travel relied on sandy wagon tracks, which were slow, dusty, and often impassable after rain. This hindered trade, mail delivery, and access to Cape Town markets for farmers and residents.
"Op 7 Desember 1825 is hierdie probleem in 'n verslag deur goewerneur lord Charles Somerset se resident-ingenieur, W.E.C. Holloway, aan graaf Bathurst, die Minister van Kolonies, genoem, 'one of the great Evils under which the Colony labours', aangesien elke wa wat na en van die Kaap af reis, dit moes deurploeter... Die groot vraag was natuurlik wie vir die pad sou betaal."
The breakthrough came under the influence of Lieutenant-Colonel C.C. Michell, the first Surveyor-General of the Cape (British colonial period). In 1845, with the aid of convict labour a proper hard road (hardepad) was completed through the Cape Flats, linking Kuils River (and beyond) to Cape Town harbour and other towns. this development placed the community "on the threshold of great progress" (op die drumpel van groot vooruitgang), as it improved communication, commerce, and settlement growth.
The settlement grew slowly into a village during the 18th - 19th centuries, with a Rhenish Missionary Society church founded in Sarepta in 1843, a proper road built in 1845, and a railway station in 1862.
By 1862 Kuils River had three hotels, three bakeries, and five general dealers.
In 1880 a dedicated passenger station building was erected.
Residential stands were first sold in 1898, officially recognizing it as a town.
"In 1840 a new assistant arrived at Stellenbosch in the person of Rev. Louis Francois Esselen, a forceful and energetic personality, who soon made his influence felt in the whole of the Stellenbosch district. It was due to his enterprise that an important offshoot of the Stellenbosch mission, Sarepta (near Kuils River), was commenced, and has continued to be a station of the Rhenish Mission to this day (1911)." (Du Plessis)
- Louis Francois Esselen (c.1817 Germany - 1893 Worcester), Rhenish missionary.
(Source: Cases Decided in the Court of Appeal of the Cape of Good Hope 1885-1905).
- Bosman, Powis & Co. was a commercial firm active in the Cape Colony (mainly Cape Town area) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They appear in several reported cases in the Cape Times Law Reports and other Cape legal volumes from the 1890s–1910s, often involved in business disputes.
- Justice W. M. Hopley was The Honourable William Musgrove (or Musgrave) Hopley (1853 Cradock - 1919), a senior judge in the Cape Colony (and later Rhodesia) judicial system.
"Even the wine-farmers, the nearest of all the rural burghers to Cape Town, had to struggle across the dunes of the Flats with wagons half empty in order to reach their only market. During south-easters the wagon tracks were quickly erased by new drifts. Wagons sometimes took a fortnight and even three weeks to cross die dunes. It was fear of the drifting sand that again and again prevented a start being made on this essential highway, in spite of all John Fairbairn's pleas in the South African Commercial Advertiser and the schemes of Cape merchants. Charles Michell faced the risk in the early 1840s and John Montagu soon arrived to support him. For twenty-four miles in an almost straight line through Parow and Kuils River they built the Hard Road to the Stellenbosch end of the sand at Eerste River. The road was eventually raised sixteen feet above the Flats, with gently sloping flank to carry drift-sand up one side and down the other. With bridges to carry it over Salt River and Eerste River, it was completed by the end of 1845." (Bond)
- John Fairbairn (1794 Scotland - 1864 Cape Town), newspaper owner, politician.
- Charles Michell (1793 England - 1851 England), road engineer.
- John Montagu (1797 England - 1853 England), Colonial Secretary of the Cape.
Post-1950s
Kuils River attained municipal status on December 4, 1950 (after post-WWII growth). It developed as a diverse residential and light-industrial area, influenced by apartheid-era planning (e.g., proclaimed white in parts by 1958, with separate communities).
Notable features include historic farms like Zevenfontein (national heritage site), Koopmanskloof (homestead from 1801, declared monument in 1960s), and wine estates like Zevenwacht and Saxenburg. Landmarks include St. George the Martyr Anglican Church in Sarepta (1917) and the Kuils River catchment (now facing pollution, alien vegetation, and urban impacts since the 1970s). The river itself has been canalized in places and is the subject of restoration efforts. Kuils River retains a semi-rural charm with smallholdings, while being well-connected to Cape Town via highways and rail.
Architecture
- Saxenburg (c.1750, demolished)
- Leeuwenhof (1788)
- Zevenfontein (1800)
- Koopmanskloof (1801)
- Bellevue (1803)
- Mooiplaas (1806)
- Welgelegen (1813)
- Rhenish Mission Church (Sarepta) (1842)
- De Kuilen School (1874)
- Goede Hoop (1880)
- Van Riebeeck Hall
- Railway Station (1880 : 1973)
- NG Kerk Moedergemeente (1903)
- Kuils River Primary School (1908)
- Sky-Vue Drive-In Treatre (1956)
- Public Library (1957)
- NG Kerk Suid (1964)
- Jan Kriel Institute
Tin mining
In 1903 tin was discovered on Adriaan de Waal's farm Langverwacht during efforts to find other resources. In the same year De Waal sold his farm to a mining syndicate for the exhorbitant amount of £30,000. Tin deposits were also found on Hazendal and Rozendal. These were all on the slopes of the Bottelaryberg.
The Kuils River tin mines were active in the early 20th century (roughly 1902–1956). Alluvial deposits resulting from the disintegration of tin-bearing rocks were economically exploited on the farms Langverwacht and Langverwacht Annexe, approximately two miles to the east of the village of Kuils River. It was soon found that the tin deposits were less promising than previously estimated.
"It was soon after the Boer War that Mr. Horatio Bottomley turned his attention to an obscure hamlet named Kuils River. He announced to the world that a large deposit of tin had been located there. Tin did exist at Kuils River, as had been shown by such eminent South African geologists as the late Dr. G. S. Corstorphine and Professor E. S. L. Schwartz. Mr. Bottomley’s name being as yet unsullied, the report that he, a leading London financier, was sponsoring a discovery so near at home, was well received. The Corner House at Johannesburg sent down a certain Ben Bradley to examine the proposition. With the greatest care and discretion, a geologist was sent to the little Western Province village. He snooped his way along the course of a creek from which the all-important samples were taken. Kuils River Tins continued very active on the more speculative side of the London share market and there was a definite possibility of a payable field. Alas, it did not get beyond the possibility stage." (Rosenthal, 1959).
- Horatio William Bottomley (1860-1933) was one of the most notorious British figures of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras - a charismatic but deeply fraudulent financier, journalist, newspaper proprietor, populist politician, and wartime propagandist.
- Dr. George Steuart Corstorphine (1868-1919) was a prominent Scottish-born geologist and educationalist who made significant contributions to the geological survey and mapping of South Africa in the early 20th century.
- Ernest Hubert Lewis Schwarz (1873-1928) was a prominent South African geologist, academic, and author known for his work on the country's geological landscape and his later controversial environmental theories.
"The Good Hope Tin Mines, Ltd, is the name of a venture being floated at Capetown with a capital of £40,000. The company is being formed with the object of acquiring the rights granted under a new agreement dated 19th November, 1913, over a large area of the farm "Hazendal" situated in the district of Stellenbosch. The right is granted to mine for and win tin and other minerals during a period of three years, with the further right to purchase the mineral rights over a selected area of not less than 100 morgen at the price of £50 per morgen. Fifty morgen of surface ground is included for works, etc.
The close proximity of the property to the Railway and to the port of shipment, combined with the advantageous shipping arrangements for exporting the Tin concentrates to England or elsewhere, will reduce expenses to a minimum. The discovery of Tin on this property is of the greatest importance, and its successful development should not only be advantageous to Shareholders, but also, in a general way, to the District. The property is situated about two miles from Kuils River Railway Station. The famous alluvial tin deposit on the farm Annex Langverwacht, which is now being worked by a large London Company, adjoins the property. It is thought that the alluvial was shed originally from the lode the extension of which has been found and considerably developed on "Hazendal". (SA Mining, Aug, 1914).
Some Kuils River tin mines were: Alluvial Tin Fields of Africa Ltd, Good Hope Tin Mines Ltd, Star Alluvial Tin Mine, Frank P Cushing Syndicate (Cpt), Alluvial Creek Ltd, Faure Syndicate.
Today, the site is recognized for its historical value, with old boilers and winches still present on the Zevenwacht Wine Estate, which has incorporated the history into its branding and tourism.
Sources
- Shovel and Sieve. Rosenthal, E. c.1959. George Allen and Unwin: London.
- SA Mining and Engineering Journal, Aug, 1914.
- A History of Christian Missions in South Africa. 1911. Du Plessis, J.
- They Were South Africans. 1957. Bond, J.
- Old Cape Colony. 1903. Trotter, A.F.
- Die Geskiedenis van Kuilsrivier. 1993. Vermaak, A.L. (Thesis)
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