Page 22 - Bulletin 7 2003

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Yet the names of farmhouses that have disappeared over the last half a century come
to mind, and for each one of which we know there may be two others of which we do

not. Again one only has to page through this book to find examples like Saxenburg,
Steenberg, Ganzekraal, Loevenstein, Blindefontein, Paarl Diamant. But there are

many others, which Elliott did not photograph, that have been destroyed relatively

recently, such as Newlands House in Cape Town, Lakenvallei and Eselfontein near
Ceres, Kluitjeskraal near Wolsely, Rheboksfontein and Groot Zorgfontein near

Mossel Bay, Sandvliet or Renosterfontein near Swellendam, Slent and Dassenberg
near Malmesbury, Vogelvlei and Winkelhoek near Piquetberg – one could go on and

on.

Some of the worst of these losses, unfortunately, were the result of the fires. Indeed,

few old farms do not have a fire in their history, but these often left walls and gables
and some woodwork intact and were seldom regarded as sufficient excuse to pull

down the building. But most losses were straightforward demolitions, by short-

sighted owners unaware of the cultural (and, as a consequence, often financial) value
of the treasures in their custodianship.

Let us venture a few estimates, as a very rough indication of the seriousness of this

continuing demarcation of our historical building stock. At the time of the decline of
the Cape Dutch style of architecture – let us say roughly 1850 – there might have

been some six thousand good buildings in the area it occupied, well over half of them

farmhouses. Using information such as that contained in Elliott photographs as
random samples, round the turn of the century something like two thousand of these

were still standing. Today not much more than seven hundred are left in more or less
recognisable form. Inaccurate though these figures undoubtedly are, they do indicate

that the loss between 1850 and 1900 was no larger than that from 1900 till today, so
that now only about ten per cent is left. This would still constitute an adequate

heritage, provided it could be safeguarded against continued shrinkage at the same

rate.