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A short history lesson of Plumstead. Should be a quick easy find.
I stumbled on this information while doing research for another cache that I wanted to do.This will be my first cache which would have taken you a to small plaque in a childrens playground in lower Wynberg, however it is a high muggle area.So now it takes you to another place connected with the founder of Plumstead.
This is an easy cache, you can park within a few metres of it. It is available at all times but would probably be better during the day, stealth will be needed at all times to retrieve.
It is a nano cache so bring your own pen/ pencil to sign the log.
Plumstead was first mentioned in 1762, when a large portion of the land beyond Wynberg and the Constantia Valley was granted to the free burghers Hendrick Jergens and Johan Barrens, both Dutch settlers. They called the land 'Rust' (Rest) and 'Werk' (Work). Twenty years later the land was granted to Hendrick Bouman Brigeraad.
From 1795, after the decline of the Dutch East India Company, the British occupied the Cape and the strategic area of Wynberg , midway between Cape Town and Simons Bay where they could control the essential wagonroad. With the upsurge of activity, which came from the military camp, a number of economic initiatives changed this small farming community into a substantial growth point attracting new-comers into the area and establishing it as the most important garrison for army personnel on the Peninsula beyond Cape Town.
In 1807 an Englishman by the name of Henry Batt, arrived and bought 'Rust and Werk', renaming it Plumstead, after a district of London. Henry Batt farmed the area for twenty six years, and died in 1833. At the time of his death he owned several properties at the Cape and his estate was worth about thirty thousand pounds making him one of the wealthiest residents in Wynberg.
Extract from the South African Commercial Advertiser transcribed from CO53/3 at the National Archives, Kew, London says this about his death:
Wednesday 22 May 1833
“Mr. Henry BATT, the proprietor of Plumstead near Wynberg, and for many years engaged in extensive business in this Colony, fell down in a fit of apoplexy yesterday, at the house of a friend in Cape Town, and died immediately.”
Some other accounts say that, while out walking, Batt’s cattle which were happily grazing nearby, took it upon themselves to gore the retired merchant to death.
(Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a cerebrovascular accident. However, without further specification it is rather outdated, and is today rather used for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement.) Prehaps the cattle caused the apoplexy.
All that is left of the impressive tomb which was erected near the house on his property by his wife is a small concrete slab which is covered in graffiti, and barely legible except when the sun shines on it at a certain angle which occupies space in a children’s playground. The original tomb was demolished in 1960. The slab simple says: “Henry Batt, founder of Plumstead village.” It’s incredible to think that this was once a sprawling farm, and where Plumstead gets its name, a farm that lay in today's Wynberg. Go and visit it at S34°00.650’ E018°28.347’.
Two other reminders from Henry Batt is an open piece of boggy land with some trees in it, which is in fact all that remains of the forest known as Batts wood. The stream that flowed through the area is now all but a trickle and the other trees have made way to housing developments. The other remnant is the Rust en Werk farmstead or its outbuildings on Bruyns road which you would pass on you way to the cache site. This is a typical early Cape cottage, with its characteristic stoep and plaster benches, the original thatch is now corrugated iron.
After Batts death the farm Plumstead was subdivided and bought by Higgs, Loubscher And Southey. In 1896, Sir Richard Southey bought it all. He was born in Calmstark, Devonshire. He held farming and administrative positions in Grahamstown. He was knighted in 1891. He was interested in cattle farming and was to be seen walking about his farm, always with pine tree seeds in his pocket – he would make a hole with his walking stick and drop a seed in – hence the pine trees in Plumstead today. Many of the streets have Devon names, taken from his home country. He died on the 22 July 1901 at his residence ‘Southfields’ – today St Michaels Orphanage. He wrote a clause in his will that there were to be no flats below the railway-line. One son built and lived in the house ‘Culmwood’, which in 1833 Timour Hall became the property of Edward George at the time of Batt’s death. In 1881 it was ceded to Aletta Smith Widow of Charles James Smith. (Widows were often granted land or farms in lieu of a pension for services rendered to the Colony by their husbands). Sir Percy Fitzpatrick lived there. It is owned by the Education Department and leased to the International Police Association who are utilising it as a self-catering Guesthouse.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Znxr n orryvar sbe gur cbfg. Yrsg unaq fvqr ba gur tebhaq.