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9/2/111/0064/001
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Post date: 07/08/2012
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The graveyard is situated in a small rectangular parcel of land adjacent to the UCT campus and is reached by a panhandled access pathway which is is terminated by a timber gate bearing an inscriptive plaque on each gatepost. It is surrounded by a low whitewashed wall, over half of which was demolished recently.
The graveyard is situated in a small rectangular parcel of land adjacent to the UCT campus and is reached by a panhandled access pathway which is is terminated by a timber gate bearing an inscriptive plaque on each gatepost. It is surrounded by a low whitewashed wall, over half of which was demolished recently.
The original wall appears to have been constructed of an early light burnt type clay with a mud mortar. There are signs of later repair work using a modern cement mortar. The demolished portions of the wall have recently been carefully reconstructed. The graves themselves are in the main, simple and unassuming. Most of the memorials are either flat stones with inscriptions or small vaults of cement. There appear to be very few slate and marble slabs, and only three or four upright stones.
In 1827, when the van Reenen family's occupation of Welgelegen ended the graveyard was built and the slate inset on one of the gate pillars reads: "The family burial place of Gysbertus van Reenen and Sybrand Jacobus Mostert and their descendants, established 1827."
There are over one hundred descendants of these two families buried in the cemetery, and many of the graves are unmarked. The only van Reenen names appearing on the headstones are those of Gysbert, his widow Maria Smalburger, and an unmarried daughter Gysberta; there are many unmarked graves in the portion of the cemetery where they are buried, possibly those of their only son Dirk, his wife Anna vos and their several small children could be buried here. It is possible as the male line of the van Reenens ended here.
There were however, four married van Reenen daughters have been buried here and interestingly, the ashes of a Muller have been commemorated with a plaque dated as late as 1984.
There are many Mostert tombs here; Sybrand Mostert and his wife Johanna Petronella, who died in 1872 and 1863 respectively, are interred under a large slate slab that is still in perfect condition. There are also many small graves in this section of the cemetery, clearly evidencing the high infant mortality rate during the eighteenth century.
The estate papers of Sybrand Mostert reveal an interesting piece of information: an amount of money was left " to the churchwardens (sic) of the Dutch Reformed Church, Wynberg, on condition that they keep the graveyard and burial place in proper order." The property is now under the control of the Department of Public Works and Land Affairs and is not accessible to the public. However, in 1984 a survey was done and the names of those buried there were recorded.