Sites

Archive Import
History: Until quite recently the fishermen’s villages, most of them hardly more than hamlets, constituted some of the most interesting and picturesque features to be seen along the coast from Saldanha Bay to far beyond Cape L’Agulhas. One comes across them, often quite unexpectedly, in remote and secluded bays. They owed their charm and rustic simplicity especially to the modest little houses with their whitewashed walls, thatched roofs and simple end gables with cumins or jutting-out fireplaces and chimneys. With the increasing popularity of our seaside places these houses are disappearing one after another. It has become urgently necessary to protect some of them not only on account of their particular character and attractiveness, but because they occupy a special place in the history of our vernacular architecture. They are the prototype of the fine Cape gabled houses and of many farm dwellings in the interior.
The best surviving examples of these modest, un sophisticated houses may be seen in the Bredasdorp district. Some 32 kilometres from Bredasdorp, at Hotagterklip near Struis Bay, the new macadamized road cuts through one of these villages. A few houses were destroyed in making the road, but there are attractive groups of dwellings on either side of it. The three houses on the grassy slope on the right-hand side are about sixty years old and have recently been well restored by the Divisional Council of Bredasdorp. They have been raised to the status of proclaimed historical monuments. The larger group of houses stand on the left of the road and the Historical Monuments Commission is taking active steps to have as many as possible of them preserved.
Visual Description:
Colours:
Site Features:
Condition: Fair to good
Construction Date:
Materials:
Catalogue: , No: , Significance Category: