Green Point

Until the middle of the 19th century, few authorities worldwide bothered about safety at sea and more particularly about the provision of lighthouses. The sea was a demanding mistress and was entitled to claim vessels, cargoes and lives, and the ruling classes who governed nations and held the purse strings were unaffected and unconcerned by losses at sea. And so the wrecks piled up on the treacherous coasts of Europe and North America, and in some numbers on the uncharted peninsulas and capes around the southern tip of Africa.

Photographing a shipwreck at Cape Point (SAHRA)

Certainly the Dutch East India Company was not prepared to spend its profits on maritime safety around the Cape of Good Hope, and left any efforts in this respect to the initiative of the Governors – to be funded from the normal budget. Van Riebeeck had a go at putting a bonfire on Robben Island, but soon gave up when the local supplies of wood were exhausted. Thereafter the Dutch did nothing.

At the time of the British takeover of the Cape, the authorities in Whitehall and their parliamentary...

The Simon van der Stel Foundation recently expressed concern that Heritage Western Cape (HWC), the local successor to the National Monuments Council, is allowing the history of old Bantry Bay to be destroyed by permitting the demolition of structures of heritage importance. This concern was raised when permission was granted by the HWC to demolish four early 20th century buildings situated on Saunders and Bantry Roads. The Foundation’s chairperson Ian Pretorius said that these early 20th century buildings represented the very early architectural and urban-making fabric of old Bantry Bay. He added that if these tangible reminders of the neighbourhood’s past were to be wiped out, the result would be a sterile monotonous suburb that looked like any other modern one in the world.

Almost simultaneously, the Sea Point Fresnaye Bantry Bay Ratepayers’ and Residents Association (SFB) objected to a proposal to convert an apartment block on 2 Main Street into a hotel, on land currently zoned for general residential, and not for business purposes.

Developers clearly cannot wait to develop as much as they can of Cape Town’s Platinum Mile.

In the light of the above we propose to take you on a meander along the Sea Point Promenade from just below Bantry Bay to the Green Point Lighthouse, a mere three kilometers distant. Here you will encounter interesting contemporary and historical architecture, unusual street art, an important geological rock formation and of course spectacular vistas of the Atlantic seaboard, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. Hopefully this will convince...