Department of History

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Browsing Department of History by Author "Barnard, Eureka"

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    'n Evaluering van die volksboukuns van die Swellendam-omgewing
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2003-04) Barnard, Eureka; Burden, M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Swellendam is situated in the eastern part of the Overberg and is bounded by the districts of Bredasdorp in the south, Caledon and Robertson in the west, Montagu and Ladisrnith in the north, and Riversdale and Heidelberg in the east. Before colonisation mainly two Khoikhoi tribes, the Chainouquas and the Hessequas, lived there. Because of the favourable climate and terrain, the expansion into the interior of the European settlers after 1700 happened most rapidly across the Hottentots Holland mountains in the direction of the Breede River. On 12 November 1743 a sub-drostdy for the Colonie in de verre afgeleegene districten was founded and a landdrost and heemraad members were appointed. On 26 October 1747 the Political Council decided to name this district Swellendam. The drostdy and a number of other buildings were completed by 1747. The pioneers applied in the Swellendam area the methods of building to which they were accustomed, which they knew by tradition or to which they had been exposed. The plans which were employed had either been used by previous generations or appeared widely in the area. For almost two centuries the elongated wing plan in the form of an I, T, U, L, etcetera was followed at the Cape. In the area studied the T-plan, especially, is most common, with a considerable number of longhouses (I-plan) in which man and beast were lodged under one roof. Kapstyl (roof-truss), clay and stone houses are the three types of homes of which remnants have been found in the Swellendam area. The kapstyl structure was used as a temporary home and also as bam in the area under study. Clay houses were the first more permanent structures erected in the Swellendam area. These homes were probably built without the assistance of masons, joiners, carpenters and blacksmiths. In this area stone buildings were primarily erected at livestock stations and, compared to clay houses, there are few remnants of stone-built homes. A few combination patterns have been found in the lay-out of outbuildings. Examples of these are the stables-and-waggon shed combinations and the stables-waggon shed-kraal, as well as the stables-waggon shed-hen's nest openings and the slave quarters-milking shedwaggon shed combinations.