Page 80 - KBHA BULLETIN 4

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‘Pentrich’, St James

Willoughby Cleghorn

The house

The property ‘Pentrich’ No. 1 Pentrich Road, St James was bought by the estate of the late F. W.

Mills for his widow Mrs E. J. Mills on 25 October 1916 from the estate of the late William
Fletcher. Fletcher’s business was Fletcher and Cartwrights the well-known department store in

Adderley Street, Cape Town. He came originally from Derbyshire where there is a town named

Pentrich.

Fletcher may have been responsible for joining two separate cottages and adding the bay
window, typical of Victorian times, and the sash windows and covered stoep. There is great

variation in the thickness of the walls presumably indicating the early structures. Until about
1975 the roof of ‘Pentrich’ was thatched and had several dormer windows which provided light

to the ‘brandsolder’ or loft. (Figs. 3.15 & 3.16.) This was designed to insulate the ceiling from

the thatched roof if the thatch caught fire. Above the beams to which the ceiling was fixed pine
branches were laid close together and covered with a thick layer of yellowish earth, probably

topsoil.

Water for domestic use was obtained from a brick-lined well situated at the north-east corner of
the house. Today the well is fitted with an electric motor and provides water for the garden. The

oak tree at the west side of the lawn was established from an acorn taken from the old family

home of F. W. Mills, ‘Hope Lodge’, in Roeland Street Cape Town opposite the gaol. ‘Hope
Lodge’ and the house next door, ‘Bloemhof’, which belonged to David Mills Senior, were

demolished in the late 1920s and a school was erected on the site.

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