Brackenfell is a northern suburb of Cape Town situated within the Western Cape province of South Africa at the gateway to the winelands.
Brackenfell is a northern suburb of Cape Town situated within the Western Cape province of South Africa at the gateway to the winelands. The local government services are provided by the City of Cape Town Municipality. In Brackenfell can be found a variety of property situated on the foothills of Cape Town.
The Bracken Nature Reserve, situated in the Ruwari suburban area, was once a quarry site and was later declared a nature reserve after some negotiations between the Cape Town City Council and the Stellenbosch Divisional Council.
Brackenfell offers schools, shopping malls and medical services, and many different sporting facilities. Brackenfell has several major access roads including the N1, R300, Old Paarl Road and Bottelary Road.
The suburb is bordered by Kraaifontein in the northeast, Kuilsrivier in the southwest and Durbanville in the northwest.
History - Brackenfell
The suburb of Brackenfell has been established in 1913 (the name "Bracken" refers to an indigenous fern). Brackenfell used to be a major road crossing during the earlier days of Cape Town, but today it is a well-known suburb located behind the 'boerewors curtain', which is a local colloquial term meaning an invisible curtain that basically divides the city's English and Afrikaans speaking people.
Durbanville is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, part of the greater City of Cape Town metropolitan area. Durbanville is a rural residential suburb on the northern outskirts of the metropolis and is surrounded by farms producing wine and wheat.
History - Durbanville
Durbanville was founded in the early 19th century around a fresh water spring and was primarily a watering station for travellers between Cape Town and the interior. Durbanville was originally known as Pampoenkraal (from the Afrikaans words pampoen meaning pumpkin, and kraal meaning corral - an enclosure for livestock).
In 1825 a group of local farmers requested permission from Lord Charles Somerset (governor of the Cape Colony at that time) to build their own church. The Dutch Reformed Church was commended in 1825 and inaugurated a year later on 6 August 1826. A small village grew between the church and the outspan (overnight stop). During 1836 the inhabitants of Pampoenkraal petitioned the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Benjamin d'Urban, for permission to rename the village D'Urban in his honour. Permission was duly granted and the new name persisted until 1886 when it was renamed to Durbanville in order to avoid confusion with Durban - a major port city in the east of South Africa.
Durbanville had its own court house, jail and magistrate from the 1870s and became a Magisterial District of Bellville. The court house complex still exists in altered form within the Rust-en-Vrede complex, originally erected in 1850. A village management board was established in 1897 and a municipality in 1901. The first mayor elected was John King.
The village grew rapidly after the turn of 19th century and a local wagon industry developed. The King Brothers Wagon Works' used to be South Africa's biggest wagon works. At the turn of the century, it employed more than 200 men, which just about accounted for the entire village.
Bellville is a city in the greater Cape Town metropolitan area.[2] and falls within the area of the City of Cape Town municipality.
Originally called "12 Mile Post" (Afrikaans: "12-Myl-Pos"), since it is located 12 miles (20 km) from Cape Town city centre, it was originally founded as a railway station on the line from Cape Town to Stellenbosch and Strand. In 1861 it was renamed Bellville, after the surveyor general Charles Bell.
The Karl Bremer Hospital functioned as the Academic Hospital for the University of Stellenbosch Medical School, but now the adjacent Tygerberg Hospital houses the medical school. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the University of the Western Cape are also situated in Bellville.
The multi-purpose Bellville Velodrome is located in the Tyger Valley area of Bellville.
In May 2007, Meg Ryan and William H. Macy completed the last day of principal photography for their new movie, The Deal, at the Bellville Civic Centre.
In the local music scene Bellville has been nicknamed Bellville Rock City[citation needed] due to the number of popular bands that hail from the city, such as Fokofpolisiekar, Foto Na Dans, Jax Panik, Jack Parow, aKING and Die Heuwels Fantasties.[3][4]
The novel 2 Dae in Mei (English: 2 Days in May) by Jaco Fouché takes place in Bellville.
Kraaifontein is a suburb of Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
It is located in the city's northern suburbs and flanks the N1 Highway towards Paarl and Worcester to the north and south. It comprises several residential areas namely Windsor Park, Scottsville, Peerless Park, Eikendal, Belmont Park, Bonny Brook and Uitzicht.
Kraaifontein, encompassing the areas of Scottsdene, Wallacedene and Bloekombos, was once a separate municipality before the restructuring of all South African municipalities during the late 90's. These areas, however, are listed as separate suburbs by the City of Cape Town for planning and statistical purposes.[2]
Forming part of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality, it is located in its Subcouncil 2 Area named Bergdal
