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History: The old pump-house at the corner of Prince and Sir George Grey Streets is a completely different kind of structure from the stately houses at the foot of Table Mountain. From the seventeenth century onwards water for domestic purposes was carried by slaves from public fountains like the one on the Parade. At the beginning of the nineteenth century a special grant by the Government enabled the Burgher Senate to provide an improved system of public water supply. Water from the mountain was caught up in dams and led into wells by means of wooden and iron pipes. On such a well a pump-house was built and equipped with a swinging pump. This pump is known as the “Hurling pump” according to a family tradition it was built by Jan Frederik Hurling, a Swedish colonist who came to the Cape in 1743. Slaves worked the pump by swinging a long wooden handle, weighted on one side, to and fro. The water issued from the mouth of a lion carved in wood, above which was a slate on which details of the amount of water consumed were probably recorded.
The old pump-house in Prince Street is the only remaining relic of this system.
Proclaimed 1937"
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