Muizenberg Multi #1: Historical Mile (v.2)
This multi-stage cache should take around 40 minutes and takes in Muizenberg’s Historical Mile along Main Road (M4) – an easy and interesting walk with a number of notable historical buildings and features including those detailed below
Note: the coordinates given are for the first step of this multi not the cache itself
To Find The Cache:
Park: Anywhere near start location
Step 1: The coordinates given are those of the first stage of the multi. At this location the number of stone cubes under the arch below the building sign = A
Step 2: Proceed to S 34 06.595 E 18 28.046 where you will find an info board on Transport. The photo in the top left of this showing an ox-wagon passing St James was taken around 187B
Step 3: Carry on along the road to S 34 06.677 E 18 28.002 where you will find another two information boards. On the Architecture one, the painting at the bottom left shows a seaside house at St James attributed to Thomas Bowler, 186C
Step 4: At the same location, there is an info board on 'A Coastal Resort) at the bottom of which is a photo of a large hotel which was built in 191D
Step 5: At S 34 06.690 E 18 27.982 is a large anchor (origin unknown): how many of the smaller chain links (torus-shaped) are there in the anchor chain, ie. not the larger link and not the attachment pieces (shackles) at each end. (Number of these links = EF)
Step 6: At S 34 06.646 E 18 28.014 is a worn commemorative stone laid into the wall of this historical building. In what year was this stone laid (Year = 19G0)
The cache, a small flip-topped dispensing pot, can be found at:
S 34 06.DG(C+F) E 18 2(A-1).(E-2)(B-F)E
NB. Please ensure you replace the cache properly concealed as this area is visited by bergie muggles!
Check your calculated coordinates here:
Bailey’s Cottage (1909): a thatched building between the railway line and the sea in front of the site of the Battle of Muizenberg. This slight rocky promontory is shown on an 1802 map as a gun battery. Sir Abe Bailey, a wealthy industrialist (gold & diamonds) and influential contemporary of Cecil John Rhodes, built an angling cottage on the fort which forms the foundations of the building. There is speculation that the concrete pillar in front of the house once supported an angling platform or deck. The land has always belonged to the state - first the British Army and then the Department of Defence. Sir Abe got access and built his cottage in the 1920s, but when WW2 broke out the use of the cottage reverted to the Royal Navy, who used it as an observation post. Post-war and up to 1999, it was used to house naval officers. It then fell into disrepair and in December 2002 the Department of Public Works sold the building by public tender. It was re-thatched in January 2003 with dakriet (Cape thatching reed) at the expense of Public Works.
#180 Het Posthuys (several dates quoted but possibly from 1642): one of the oldest buildings in South Africa which was built by 
the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Ost-Indische Compagne or VOC) as a toll-house to levy a tax on farmers passing by to sell produce to ships moored in Simon's Bay. An early postholder was Sergeant Muys (‘mouse’), from whom Muizenberg, formerly Muysenbergh and earlier Muys Zijn Bergh (Muys' mountain) gets its name. After a varied career as a police station, stables, brothel, hotel and private house the building was properly identified in the 1980s and restored with funding from the Anglo American Corporation. It is looked after by the Muizenberg Historical Conservation Society and has a few photos and other items of interest relating to early Muizenberg (theoretically open to the public, but closed when I passed!).
#210 Yokohama House (1906): made of paper! (papier mache) – no further information found
#232 Rust-en-Vrede (1904) and #246 Rhodes Cottage (pre-1899): Rust-en-Vrede (Rest and Peace) was designed as a holiday cottage(!) for Cecil John Rhodes by Sir Herbert Baker, a renowned local architect. Rhodes briefly used nearby Rhodes Cottage (preserved as a museum dedicated to Rhodes' life and (theoretically) open to the public) as his holiday house, but died in 1902 before Rust en Vrede was built. It was then bought by Sir Abe Bailey, who completed the building in 1904. It is currently (Jan 2003) owned by the elderly Mrs Meikles of Zimbabwe, heiress to the Meikles hotel business. During the years that the site of the Battle of Muizenberg lay forgotten, it was used by the occupants of Rust en Vrede. In the 1920s a tennis court was laid out on what is now called the parade ground, and many pleasant social tournaments took place in these historic surroundings. When the tennis court in turn fell into disuse it became a dumping ground for domestic and building waste from Rust en Vrede, and today the parade ground is thick with coal ash and building rubble.
The Site of the Battle of Muizenberg (1795): This battle was a small but very significant skirmish that began in June 1795 and ended after 3 months with the (first) British occupation of the Cape. Thus began the period (briefly interrupted from 1804-1806) of British control of the Cape, and subsequently much of Southern Africa. The historical remnant of the Battle of Muizenberg is a site on the hillside overlooking False Bay that holds the remains of a defensive fort started by the Dutch in 1795 and expanded by the British from 1796 onwards. For a detailed and fascinating account of the Battle of Muizenberg (where a small Dutch contingent was bombarded by numerous British warships and fled to Retreat) see here.
For more Muizenberg historical info see here or here. For a detailed downloadable map showing all the Muizenberg and St James points of interest and historical buildings go to here.
Enjoy the walk and soak up some history!