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History: This fortress was hastily built in 1781, when an attack by British forces on the Cape was expected. A conical kiln, probably for making bricks, was added some 50 years later.

From the beginning of the settlement at the Cape, the commanders were concerned about the poor strategic positions of the Fort of Good Hope and the Castle. The Fort and, at a later stage, the Castle, would be easy targets for the guns of any enemy holding Signal Hill, Kloof Nek or the slopes of Table Mountain. Consequently forward defence works were put up, even in the time of Van Riebeeck, who built guardhouses and redoubts along the Salt and Liesbeek Rivers and on Robben Island and Dassen Island. Van Riebeeck’s successors adopted the same policy, with the result that Cape Town was eventually surrounded by a semi-circle of fortifications stretching from the mouth of the Salt River to Hout Bay.
The fortification of the Cape, however, received special attention in the 1780’s when the Dutch East India Company, fearing a British attack on the Cape, accepted the assistance of a French garrison. To protect the Cape from a possible attack overland from the direction of False Bay, a line was hastily constructed from Fort Knokke where Woodstock railway station is now, westwards across Munnik’s farm Zonnebloem to the foot of Devil’s Peak. This line was generally known as the French Line, but is also referred to in old documents as the Zonnebloem or Munnik Line, and sometimes as the Nieuwe Retranchement.
In 1786 the French Line consisted of Fort Knokke the Hollandse Redoute, the Franse Redoute and the Burger Redoute. This line remained in use until 1827, when orders were given that all the forts except Fort Knokke must be demolished. In the course of time not only the earthworks that connected the redoubts disappeared, but also all the redoubts themselves, with the exception of the Franse Redoute. This redoubt, also known as the Central or Frederick William Redoubt, is situated in Trafalgar Park, Woodstock.
The history of the French Line is also that of the redoubts. The line was constructed in 1781 but by 1786 it had fallen into such a state of neglect that it was regarded as entirely useless. When the invading British fleet arrived in 1795 it was repaired and two twelve- pounder guns were mounted on the “earthworks”. During the stormy years that followed it was reasonably well maintained and in 1806 four eight-pounders and an eight-inch Howitzer were added.
On the earthwork of the Central Redoubt there is still an interesting structure which looks like some kind of oven and was for a long time believed to be an oven for heating cannon-balls red-hot before they were fired at the decks of wooden ships. Recent research has shown that little value can be placed on this tradition and that the “oven” is much more likely to be a brick-kiln built after 1830.
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Construction Date: 1781
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