Meet at Babylonstoren in time for the 10am garden tour by the resident horticulturalist (your R10 entrance entitles you to this). The garden replicates the Company’s Garden layout, aided by Patrice Taravella‘s design.
The outing starts at 11am, in the Babylonstoren car park.

Our outing is designed to investigate how the location, aspect, size and ownership histories of the farms we are visiting were integral in shaping the werfs through time.

The De Villiers family was very influential in this valley’s history and we shall see the degree to which each farm was incorporated into the vast and wealthy de Villiers dynasty – and the effect that had on its physical layout.

Babylonstoren was outside this family network for much of its history and so needed to be self-sufficient, while the De Villiers farms formed a network of resources. Thus we start at Babylonstoren to see how this need to be self-sufficient this translates into built fabric.

Then we wend our way to Solms Delta, stopping at other werfs that belonged to the De Villiers family network, noting the differences that brought into the built fabric. We end at Solms Delta, where Katie will give us an insider tour of the archaeological investigations she is currently busy with on the werf, including the architectural puzzles the old stables have revealed

Lunch is at Solms Delta – Bring your own picnic or book at their restaurant Fyndraai. 021 874 3937. The offer a delicious cheeseboard with paired wines for R130.
Visiting the museum over the lunch break is ‘’required reading’’ before Katie’s detailed tour starts after lunch.

Directions: Travel on the N1, take the R44 turn off., turning left at the second stop street, heading towards Franschhoek. Babylonstoren is on your right.
Solms Delta is on the R45, 3 ks on your left after the R310 intersection, in the Franschhoek direction.

Outings are restricted to paid up members only 

This talk draws on the work Katie did to earn her MPhil in Archaeology, using archaeology and archival research to chart the development of the werfs of two historical wine farms in the Groot Drakenstein: Solms Delta and Babylonstoren.

What she is going to reveal to us is what these developmental histories can tell us about the fluctuating economic conditions at the Cape during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the nature of the relationship between the farms and the Cape wine economy.

Katie will explain how these farms, very different in size and complexity, were both able to capitalise on boom periods, and weather economic downturns as a result of factors unique to each farm.

Katie Smuts is an MPhil in Historical Archaeology candidate, whose dissertation entitled An Archaeology of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Cape Wine Economy from the Perspective of Solms Delta and Babylonstoren, was submitted at the beginning of this year.

She has been a contract archaeologist, specialising in Historical Archaeology but will shortly be joining SAHRA as a Heritage Officer in their Archaeology Unit.

Exciting Short Courses on aspects of Cultural History

The University Museum of the Universityof Stellenbosch, in co-operation with the South African Society for Cultural History is offering short courses to the public on different aspects of Cultural History.

Topics are: Architecture and Old Cape Furniture
Each course comprises 15 hours’ tuition, spread over three days. Courses are SAQA-accredited Level 5 certificate.

The presenter is Prof Matilda Burden, a tutor in Cultural History at the Universityof Stellenboschfor the past 30 years. Contact her: 021-808 3669, or email mb4@sun.ac.za  before 4 May 2012

At Montebello visit David Krut ‘s latest exhibition: Landscape Re-orientation (28 April – 30 June 2012)

‘’Before it can ever be the repose for the senses, landscape is the work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from strata of memory as from layers of rock’’.
Simon Schama

Taking the notion of the traditional landscape, and bearing in mind the South African version of the idiom, this exhibition presents a collection of works informed by the genre.

The landscape stands in for a state of being, but is also instrumental in the formation of our understanding of what it means to be – as individuals existing within communities whose histories have been informed by the territories that we call home.

Landscape emerges as portrait and as metaphor for memory and psychological terrain.

Included in the exhibition: J.H. Pierneef, new linocuts by William Kentridge’s Universal Archive series, Willem Boshoff, Wilma Cruise, Justin Fox, Mischa Fritsch, Stephen Hobbs, Stephen Inggs, Dillon Marsh, Colbert Mashile, Andrzej Nowicki, Julian Opie, RobynPenn, Don Pinnock, Alexandra Ross, James Siena, Sean Slemon, Katherine Spindler, Nathaniel Stern, Mary Wafer, Alastair Whitton and Niklas Zimmer.

Boundary Terraces, Newlands – at the intersection of Mariendahl& Campground Rds.

In colonial areas – whether in Roman England, English France, inAmericaor inSouth Africa– a rational grid outlay was the preferred design for “planted” towns.

Hans traces some of these designs at the Cape, often with a church at a focal point. But he’ll also discuss a different type, that had its origin as an agricultural settlement in which the course of a river, and of an irrigation system derived from it, determined a more irregular (and to us more picturesque!), contour-directed plan that provided for a green “river-strip” with the villagers’ dwellings on its upper fringe.
It can be seen at Clanwilliam, Tulbagh,Prince Albert, and also at the mission villages such as Mamre, Wupperthal en Genadendal.

Hans Fransen is a former chairman of VASSA and holds a doctorate from theUniversityofNataland an honorary doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch.
Until his retirement he was the director of the MichaelisArt Museumon Greenmarket Squareand chairs its Society of Friends. Cycling is his passion.

He is the author of standard works such as the three editions of The old buildings of the Cape (first two with Dr Mary Cook), A Cape camera and more recently Old towns and villages of the Cape.
All these are valuable reference books for VASSA members.

As a sequel to Hans Fransen’s lecture on the “Vernacular of Cape Town Design”, he will take us on an investigation at ground level of two towns, representative of the two main types of layout.

The first port of call will be Darling (1853, well predating Pieter-Dirk Uys), a good and attractive example of the rectilinear “planned town”.

The other will be mission town Mamre (1807), not far away, with its organic layout intended to provide strips of arable land to its inhabitants.

Participants will assemble by 10 a.m. at the DarlingMuseum, on its street corner one block away from the Art Deco D.R. Church, where an introductory talk will be given. Head for the church steeple! There will be plenty parking available.
This will be followed by a brief tour of the village.

Then we will move on to Mamre, a quarter of an hour away, where we will assemble on the magificent “kerkwerf”, by the large Moravian mission church. This, too, will be followed by a walk-about.

Please bring a picnic basket, which we can enjoy at an idyllic spot near the old mill.

Please also try to double (or treble, or quadruple) up in your cars. The entire trip should not exceed 200 km.

Outings are restricted to members only, which is why you re requested to wear your badge to events.

An informative talk and discussion follow at Malta Park fields, Fir Street, Observatory, with views of old Uitwijk site (Van Riebeeck’s grain farm) and Nieuwe Molen in the distance.

Then we’ll visit the excavated remains of Varsche Drift farmhouse at Black River Park office complex, Fir Street, Observatory after which we visit Valkenburg Manor, with a talk on its restoration.

Bring a picnic.

Outings are restricted to members only, which is why you re requested to wear your badge to events. 

Ditema, the Sotho tradition of decorating houses with painted and engraved patterns and pebbles set into plaster, is fast disappearing.
Less well-known than the Ndebele mural art, it a particularly beautiful form of vernacular art tradition.

In this talk, a range of examples of this traditional architectural art form will be shown, and a brief overview will be given of the history of this tradition as well as of the processes involved in placing these patterns on the walls of the houses.

Pieter Jolly is an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology at UCT.

His special area of research is San history and rock art, specifically the history of interaction between the south-eastern San and southern Nguni and Sotho communities.

Talks are open to the public – and free. 

The Liesbeeck River has supported human settlement for hundreds of years as it flows from its source on TableMountainto the shores of Table Bay. It sustained nomadic herders in the earliest days and later immigrants built their homesteads along its banks, living there with their slaves and their descendants.

Dr Helen Robinson’s talk explores the lives of some of the people within these households. She asks the question – to what extent did this multi-cultural population achieve a degree of self-sufficiency which enabled them to co-exist in the villages which were later established along the banks of the River?

This is a story of change from a simple agrarian community to a vital modern lifestyle, which was fuelled by the technological advances of the 19th century and came to fruition in the next 100 years. Her talk and her book attempt to bring together these issues and to present a coherent account of the process which brought about change in this socially sensitive area.
This story concludes with the incorporation of the villages into greaterCape Town in 1913, but suggests that this is an ongoing process with many more implications for the 20th and 21st centuries.

Above all, it is the story of a struggle for recognition by men, women and children against a background of hope and despair, of affluence and poverty, of ignorance and understanding. It is a significant segment ofCapehistory and an acknowledgement of all the people who made it.

Dr Helen Robinson received her MA in 1985 for a study on forced removals in Greyton in the Overburg.
Her PhD thesis in the History Department in 1998 was Beyond the City Limits – People and Property at Wynberg.
She published Wynberg – a Special Place in 2001 which looks at the impact of change and modernization on the area during the twentieth century, and in 2005, a commemorative book to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the annual season of Shakespeare at the Maynardville Open Air Theatre.

Her latest book will be on sale at the very exclusive price of R150: The Villages of the Liesbeeck – from the sea to the source.

WHY A NEW CONSTITION?

The South African constitution has undergone no fewer than 18 Amendments in its relatively short life-span while the VASSA constitution has survived 25 years without any change.
The context of built heritage conservation has completely changed within this time with the advent of new legislation, heritage practices and authorities, to say nothing of the technological revolution.
Twenty-five years ago a ‘laptop’ might have had a completely different connotation!

The amended Vassa constitution positions the society to be proactive as well as responsive to architectural conservation dynamics. It provides for greater transparency and accountability as a public benefit organisation; and the use of information technology as a tool. It streamlines management and operational practices and broadens the scope of activities in support of our original objectives.

WHY ELSE?

It also allows us to alter when we have our AGM, from March to November, and ratify the subscription rates.
This means we can budget better and announce the rates at the beginning of each year, which is a more practical way forward.

It also means that there will be no increase in subscription rates this year – and that we will be having another AGM in Nov 2012 when we’ll announce the rates for 2013.

WHAT THIS MEANS ?

Bring along your subs payment to the Feb talk!
2012 Rates are unchanged from 2011:

R165 for singles, R275 for family & R250 for SACAP

& R20 for a replacement badge.

What is required is that when you pay, you also complete a Membership Form – either a hard copy available at the door, or online. This is non negotiable.

HOW THINGS WORK 

This year members are receiving a separate invoice with payment details included- see attached.

Please Note that you have 2 months only in which to pay.

As proof of current payment, a coloured slip will be mailed to you in the March newsletter (which will be sent to all members, even those who usually receive the newsletter by email). This slip must be inserted into your badge and worn at all times.

NEXT MONTH – THE AGM & ANNUAL AFTER PARTY

Diarise Tuesday 20 March
Joy Saxon is valiantly organising the party spread. Should you wish to help in any way please call her 021 674 4717.

Dr Helen Robinson leads a walk through historical places along the Liesbeeck which begins at Josephine Mill. She’ll attempt to illustrate what remains of the early days in the former villages of Newlands and Rondebosch and give some idea of the farms which were established along the River and of their owners over time.

The walk commences at Josephine Mill, returning to the Mill. Bring a picnic.

DATE: Saturday 25 February 2012
TIME:  10h00

Pieter Jolly is an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Archaeology at UCT, whose special area of research is San history and rock art, specifically the history of interaction between the south-eastern San and southern Nguni and Sotho communities.

He became interested in cave dwellings and other cave structures while staying at Masitise in southern Lesotho in the early 1990s while researching the history of the last San people living in present-day Lesotho.

The house he stayed in at Masitise was close to a well-known cave house occupied in the 19th century by the French missionary, Reverend D.F. Ellenberger, and was the first of many made over the next 20 years to cave houses and other cave structures in the south-eastern areas of southern Africa – specifically Lesotho, the Free State and the North-eastern Cape.

His informal study culminated last year in a self-published book :”Rock Shelter: some cave and cliff structures in Lesotho and South Africa”, which is dedicated to James Walton, who pioneered the study of cave dwellings in South Africa and Lesotho.
It will be on sale at R140 on the night.

SOME CAVE AND CLIFF STRUCTURES IN LESOTHO AND SOUTH AFRICA
The illustrated talk focuses on a little-known aspect of the architectural heritage of Lesotho and south-eastern South Africa – structures built in caves and in the shelter of cliffs, built and occupied by a wide range of people – including traditional healers, European priests and European, Nguni and Sotho farmers.

In some cases they were simply considered convenient places of shelter. It was quite common, for wandering Sotho groups to build their mud or stone thatched dwellings within a cave or in the lee of a cliff. European farmers, too, sometimes lived in caves before building themselves more traditional dwellings.
Often features of the cave or cliff would be incorporated into the design of these cave and cliff dwellings.

In other cases, caves were sought out by “holy people” who considered them inherently sacred spaces – portals between the surface of the earth, inhabited by human beings, and the hidden world inside the earth, inhabited by spirit beings.

In more recent times, some cave structures have been erected to provide shelter for hikers and others fleeing the pressures of city life, looking for a return to an earlier time when the shelter from the elements took a simpler and more environmentally-friendly form.

ABOUT CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION 

Why we are starting early is that Thys Hattingh will be presenting to you proposed changes to our constitution –which have been intended since he commenced his chairmanship in March this year.

What’s required at this Special General Meeting is your mandate to proceed.
This is why we are attaching a copy of our exisiting constitution (see VASSA -Constitution) as well as the proposed new constitution in a draft form, so that you are fully in the picture, and can make an informed decision (download VASSA – New Constitution: Draft)

Should you not be able to be present on the night, please participate in this important issue nonetheless by letting us know your mandate via completing the attached proxy (download VASSA – Proxy Form).

We’ll begin with the Constitution amendments at 7pm, and Pieter’s talk will follow.
And in order to celebrate James Walton’s birthday, there will be sherry on the house (a slight deviation from his favoured tipple of whisky) but in the spirit of things!

What remains of the rural character that the market gardens that once surrounded the fledgling city gave the Upper Table Valley is condensed into a series of parks tucked into the urban fabric.

We‘ll be exploring a segment of these, following the water’s routes – from Deer Park on the urban edge and then past the swathe of green spaces (including the old water catchment area of the town) that culminates in the little park where the Oranjezicht slave bell and portion of one of its outbuildings remain.
En route to our final destination (De Waal Park and the early reservoirs across the road from it), we’ll pass the Hurling Pump.

Those who wish to walk the whole route can, (remember to make a plan for leaving a car at De Waal Park to get back to the cars parked at the start!) while the less exercise-enthused can drive the route, stopping at each of our sites.

After our adventures, we shall repair to De Waal Park for our traditionally super-festive end-of-Vernac-year picnic.
Pack your hampers accordingly.

Meet at 10h00 at the Homeleigh Avenue end of Deer Park, Oranjezicht.
Park in Homeleigh Avenue and surrounding roads – no formal car park area.
To get there: Either turn right into Gorge Road, off Upper Buitenkant, then park near the top of Gorge, where it meets Homeleigh or turn left into Sidmouth off Upper Orange and follow the road round to where it becomes Homeleigh Avenue.