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Jan Joubertsgat Bridge, Franschhoek Pass, Paarl District

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Post date: 07/08/2012
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Archive Import
History: The first farms in Franschhoek, then still known as “Olifantshoek”, were granted to the French Huguenots in 1688. The surrounding mountains entirely cut off the picturesque valley from the interior to the east. Elephant tracks and Bushman footpaths crossed the Franschhoek mountains but could not be negotiated by wagons and carts. In 1699 Simon van der Stel wrote of “the elephant’s road, wide and broad, yet . . . extremely narrow on the side of that steep mountain. . . having below it an alarming depth and cannot be negotiated by a wagon because it is so narrow.”
For more than a century the people of Franschhoek were denied access to the fertile valleys behind the Franschhoek Mountains. It was only at the beginning of the nineteenth century that determined efforts were made to build a pass over the mountains. In 1818 the Stellenbosch surveyor, William Frederick Hertzog, was instructed to undertake the necessary survey for such a road. After that a contract was awarded to S. J. Cats and in 1819 the so-called “Cats road” was completed.
In 1822 disastrous floods made the pass impossible to use. On the instructions of Lord Charles Somerset, Major Holloway and the surveyor W. F. Hertzog once again investigated this route, since the removal of the Drostdy from Tulbagh to Worcester gave it an added importance. Fresh plans to rebuild the pass were approved.
On 4th February, 1823, the great task was given to Major Holloway who had drawn the plans. A large number of soldiers of the Royal. African Corps were used as labourers under the supervision of Lieut. Mudge. The work of building the pass took nearly three years and included the construction of the Jan Jouberts Gat bridge on the other side of the mountains. This bridge with a single arch five metres high and a span of 5,5 metres is not only one of the best examples of dressed stonework but is probably also the oldest remaining bridge in South Africa. For many years it was the key to access to the Overberg.
The Jan Joubert’s Gat bridge was built in 1823 and the road was opened to traffic in the following year although it was then not quite completed. The new road was only taken over by the landdrost and heemraden on 28th December, 1825, and placed in charge of Sergeant Holmes of the 98th Regiment and four soldiers.
The road required constant maintenance. In 1933 repairs costing R56 000 had to be carried out and in 1961 the Divisional Council of Paarl began to rebuild the road, with the result that the old Jan Joubert’s Gat bridge was given a new, wider surface of concrete.
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